Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Honor

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Honor by Thrity Umrigar

18 reviews

readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The author writes her characters well and displays her knowledge of India politics, culture, history and society extremely well as well as the virtues and vices of the modern country. I loved the poor characters and how they were written the protagonists and antagonists all felt like real people no matter how virtuous or vile.

The weakest part of the novel is ironically the subplot that’s used to tie the ending together

the romantic subplot clearly meant to invert Hindu Mina and her murdered Muslim husband with the kinda secular former Muslim journalist and Hindu IT guy raising a Muslim ish girl together with the help of a religious minority friend, is hit on the head so many times it was kinda disappointing and predictable the author would find a way to pretend a woman risking giving up her job to marry a rich man to raise a child was somehow not sexist because she’s clearly meant to serve a metaphor diaspora Indians especially those who fled horrific bigoted violence in India being able to come home and make a new India with the hood Indians who never left. Which while an ideal ending, the happy ending of it all suddenly was so unpolished and rushed compared to the rest of the novel especially when ironically a lot of the language was the same sexist language used to degrade women who don’t want a partner or children even if it’s meant to be about this woman who’s made an island of herself and pledged explicitly to a dying woman to raise the child. The expectations of the land lady was sexist, the idea of giving s child to other more fit and wanting people to raise is heartless is sexist lol. Like yes the character reeked if loneliness and I think she would be happy coparenting the girl and they live in urban and wealthy part that’s clearly meant to be a shield —though the book never discusses the bad ethics of diamond merchant? Which was definitely bc it’s the author using the ending for escapism of the current reality of India but it seem like such a plot hole in an otherwise excellent book and snagged for me but maybe that’s bc I’ve seen the mines people mined crawling in Mexico and read about the illness and danger in coal country US.
I don’t dislike the ending altogether but it was clearly rushed and is such a departure from the quality of the rest of the novel. Especially because the couple clinging to each other after nearly escaping assault of their own persons and the murder of an elderly woman and child make sense and I think could kick start a romance but the sex was too much and felt so insensitive and unrealistic and contrived/cliche. Like they both just saw a woman beaten death and burned and now they’re fucking the same night? :/ crass maybe because I have nothing against a longer book, but I think she should have made book 4 of the book much longer to reach the desired ending better, better pacing and not being afraid to make the relationship tentative and hopeful but more ambiguous. Especially since the use of the promise to a dying woman was used to justify her leaving her country when the actual wish was for her daughter to go to America. Like I understand the analogy being made but it makes it so obvious the parts not burdensome for a woman and asking more of her then the man are waved away as failing a promise but not the parts that the book is clearly self conscious might be sexist (bc how it was argued was loll)

But for all that it was good even if I thought the book was way to harsh on civil rights lawyers especially compared to journalists even if they both do good work.

But also I thought it was so weird

the father never even finding out she was in India never came out or her brother when especially the dad felt really built up or even looking the other sister being abused who did so much to actually risk her life and quality of life to believe in a better India that feels almost abandoned by the rich Indian and Indian Americans in this book? Like even they can’t do anything they didn’t even look for her when she looked for her sister after the attack!

Content Warnings

leortal's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

kelly_e's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Title: Honor
Author: Thrity Umrigar
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4.50
Pub Date: January 4, 2022

T H R E E • W O R D S

Immersive • Profound • Unforgettable

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Indian American journalist Smita has returned to India to cover a story, but reluctantly: long ago she and her family left the country with no intention of ever coming back. As she follows the case of Meena—a Hindu woman attacked by members of her own village and her own family for marrying a Muslim man—Smita comes face to face with a society where tradition carries more weight than one’s own heart, and a story that threatens to unearth the painful secrets of Smita’s own past. While Meena’s fate hangs in the balance, Smita tries in every way she can to right the scales. She also finds herself increasingly drawn to Mohan, an Indian man she meets while on assignment. But the dual love stories of Honor are as different as the cultures of Meena and Smita themselves: Smita realizes she has the freedom to enter into a casual affair, knowing she can decide later how much it means to her.

💭 T H O U G H T S

When Honor was announced as a Reese's pick for January 2022 it immediately caught my attention. After reading the synopsis, I was certain it was one of her picks that I would jive with. As the year went on I heard some really good things about it, but it took me until late 2023 to finally get my hands on a copy.

I was 100% invested, not bring able to put this book down, and reading it in its entirety in one sitting. It is heartbreakingly beautiful and complex. Yet despite all of the pain, it remains a story of enduring love and hope. Through her prose, Thrity brings into focus so many dichotomies (hate and love, oppression and privilege), intertwining comparisons between the western world and rural India. We get a look into two very different women. Meena's story is absolutely devastating, and I wanted to know Smita's family story for escaping India.

Oh but, it was really the last 'book' which dug itself into my mind. The graphic depictions of caste hierarchies, cultural conservatism, misogyny, public shaming, torture that continue to be the reality faced by so many to this day was deeply unsettling to read. It filled me with sadness. It filled me with rage. It filled me with empathy. It made me question humanity. I read a physical copy while listening to the audio, and this created a completely immersive experience.

My one quibble would be how it ended. I think Smita and Mohan's future would've been better left open-ended. Offering an answer reminded me of society's inability to sit with uncomfortableness. And in doing so it took away from the power of what came before.

Every now and then there is a book that touches me in ways I am not anticipating. Honor was one of those books. It shines a light on India's humanitarian crisis. Some of the hard-hitting and disturbing scenes will forever be etched into my memory. It is certainly the type of book you need to be in the right frame of mind for. I am definitely interested in exploring Thrity's backlist and picking up her 2023 release as well.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers who like realistic fiction
• anyone looking for memorable female protagonists
• bookclubs

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Sometimes, it seemed to Smita that the history of the world was written in female blood."

"As children, we were taught to be afraid of tigers and lions. Nobody taught us what I know today - the most dangerous animal in this world is a man with wounded pride."

Content Warnings

karmapen's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Content Warnings

theabee's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

ka_cam's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I listened to this on audiobook. I often struggle to finish audiobooks but I enjoyed this one- the reader did a great job of distinguishing characters and expressing complex emotions through tone and pauses. The book was pretty difficult subject matter (check content warnings) which I felt the author handled well while exposing Smita’s own biases and complicated reactions to gender based violence, religious violence, and state violence. I thought it odd that a gender based news international reporter wouldn’t tie this experience in more to her experiences reporting on GBV in other situations- the vague ‘bad things happen in the west/the us has police brutality’ references ended up feeling underdeveloped. I was expecting her at some point to mention reporting she had done on issues like missing and murdered indigenous women, DV, etc and how she’s experiencing this situation differently (or similarly) but we never got that. Some of her backstory felt rushed or underdeveloped as well. All in all a solid read but I finished it feeling that the audience was underestimated and some characters underdeveloped.

Content Warnings

shesheshelby's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I learned so much about Indian culture in this book! It was focused on women’s rights and dealing with trauma through a journalist’s trip to India. I would have considered 5 stars if the main character didn’t bother me so much!!

Content Warnings

beccastayton's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Content Warnings

criticalgayze's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was the first book from my 30 before 30 list, a project I curated by getting 30 book recommendations from friends to read before my 30th birthday coming up this December.

I will start with the lessons I learned from this book that I hope to carry into my 30s:

Standing up for yourself and your needs is always the right decision
It is never inconvenient to build and maintain community

Now, for my actual review:

If the book had been just the first 2/3s of the final text, I would maybe have given it somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars. Like many Reese picks, it was a little on the nose with its themes and values, but it was intense and emotionally affecting in the way it seemed to want to be. I did feel like it was still largely westernized in its lens, but I thought that was fine, especially as the author has similar cultural connections from my understanding.

The book started to lose me when Smita suddenly realized, seemingly out of nowhere, that she was starting to love India again, despite having had no positive experiences other than her budding relationship with Mohan. When a book struggles that bad with setting up where it wants to go, I know it is going to lose me. But even then, I didn't think I'd fall off as bad as I did.

This book lost me completely after Meena's death.

The book does a little grappling with the traumatic fallout of this event, but it then makes a pretty abrupt tonal shift into romance in a way that almost felt offensive. Besides the presence of Abru, the book departs from the social justice story that had been the spine of its first 2/3s in a way that felt like Meena's trauma was just a way to bring Mohan and Smita together.

I also found it interesting that Smita never resolves the truth of her work with her father, who is dropped fairly quickly after the "revelation" at the start of Book Two.

This, combined with Daisy Jones and Crawdads, confirms for me that I am probably not the reader for Reese's literary fiction picks. We'll just have to agree to disagree there.

Content Warnings

abhirupa's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book, especially the ending, was heartbreaking! I wish there had been more chapters about Meena than Smita, just because at some points it felt like Meena’s story was just a foil for Smita’s character development and that rubbed me the wrong way a little. Also, the back and forth that Smita has with herself at the end of the book was way too drawn out and by the end of it I was kind of rolling my eyes. However, overall, this was a beautiful and incredibly tragic story! Please heed content warnings.

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