It would’ve been easy for Karina Robles Bahrin’s debut novel The Accidental Malay to be outshined by its provocative premise.
Thankfully, that is not the case. Why? Simply put, Karina subverts expectations. In the book, the main character Jasmine Leong has always been in the spotlight.
Nicknamed KL’s “Bak Kwa Princess”, she is poised to be the next CEO of her family’s billion-ringgit company Phoenix. Underneath that glossy veneer though, Jasmine’s life is messy – filled with late nights at the office, family drama, and a passionate affair with Iskandar, a married Malay man – but at least it’s hers.
But when the leader of Phoenix, Jasmine’s grandmother and family matriarch Madam Leong dies, secrets are unearthed, and Jasmine’s past turns her present upside down.
What follows is a series of reckonings for Jasmine – behind closed doors and in the public eye.
Karina, who has Malay and Filipino parentage, addresses some very touchy subjects – among them, race, gender and religion in Malaysia – and yet manages to not take itself too seriously. Using humour and tools of the romance genre, the Langkawi-based author explores these themes in a thoughtful way, showing how unjust policing around identity affects actual lives.
From the very first page, Jasmine is a breath of fresh air. Firstly, she’s a middle-aged, 41-year-old woman, a rarity in our youth-obsessed culture. But more than that, she’s a snarky, confident, crazy-about-her-job, and sexually open Malaysian woman. Reading Jasmine’s ribald voice paired with her hyper localised story was a sensational ride for me, punctuated by raised eyebrows and knowing chuckles.
Even the pacing reflects Jasmine’s assertiveness.
Karina sets up an acrobatic array of puzzle pieces that push the upper bounds of the reader’s capacity for tension and high stakes. At some points of the book, the twists and turns are dizzying (perhaps to a fault); at others, they make The Accidental Malay a delightful page-turner.
There are times when the book misses the mark. Certain characters and relationships came off underdeveloped, such as Jasmine’s quickfire romance with Kuan Yew (Jasmine’s childhood friend and hotshot investor).
Because I couldn’t buy into their relationship, the love triangle between Jasmine, Iskandar, and Kuan Yew felt like a too-convenient stand in for the broader questions of the novel.
The gems of the book, however, lie in the moments when we see Jasmine’s true emotional connection to her Malaysian Chinese identity and her family: “I am not Muslim ... I don’t care who my parents were. They didn’t bring me up. I’m not gonna let other people tell me who I am.”
Raunchy, thought-provoking, and heartfelt, The Accidental Malay is a riot to read. Though, maybe not one for the kids.
Karina Robles Bahrin is a participant at the George Town Literary Festival 2022 in Penang on Nov 24-27.
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