Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Honor by Thrity Umrigar

30 reviews

apotofhoney's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Islamophobia, and Abandonment

euphoricallydreaming's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

dianapiskor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I didn't love this book. It wasn't that it was a bad story. On the contrary, I think it handled the ideas of Islamophobia, honor killings, and misogyny with a critical eye that was also honest without being too preachy, which has happened in other books that I've read. I think the multiple perspectives were interesting and I think the author does a great job in creating a narrative that focuses on these topics.

However, this book was very slow and terribly depressing. Part of this was the subject matter and the character growth happening with the main character: Smita. But I think part of it was the writing and structure of the story itself. The first part of the book was terribly long where nothing was really happening. And additionally, the writing where Smita just constantly reflects, has a realization, ignores that realization, and then realizes it again was too much for me and took up most of the book. I think the author has beautiful prose, but it became frustrating as it was narrated through the eyes of the main character. And due to the story itself, there is never a time where the reader can decompress from the amount of trauma and difficulty the characters face throughout the book.

Overall, this is an important story, one that definitely made me think. I just think the author's writing style for this particular book was not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Murder

ka_cam's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content and Alcohol

amandalorianxo's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad slow-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? Yes

5.0

My heart 💔😭 When we fly to India with Smita, we originally think that she is helping out a colleague post an accident they had. Shannon, in a twist of events, actually asks Smita to take over writing an article she is doing on a Hindu woman who was burned by her brothers for marrying a Muslim man (who sadly perished in the fire.) Smita then is taken into a seemingly backwards small part of India, appalled at the treatment Mina & her daughter are receiving from the community. It takes us back to why Smita and her own family left India when she was a teen. Deeply profound, heartbreaking and a smidge of hope at the end, Honor is a book that will leave you aching. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

Moderate: Islamophobia and Fire/Fire injury

shesheshelby's review against another edition

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!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

greta_bbunyi's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

A wonderful and thought-provoking exploration of the concept of Honor in the eyes of the characters, who hail from vastly different backgrounds (race, gender, religion, caste). And more than showing how these characters define the word, you also get to rethink and realize how much value their “honor” truly has. 

Just shy of 5 stars for me because of the use of a lot of highfalutin words that I found unnecessary and unrealistic, especially in conversations. But that’s just a personal preference and I don’t think it took away from the important aspects of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual assault and Death of parent

jaelynna's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

I’m almost speechless after this book. Thrity Umrigar beautifully captured the story of Meena and those who fought to help and bring her justice. To restore honor to her life. This is 100% in my top 5 books of all time — the emotions it brought are hard to shake. 

I naively believed this book to take on the “privileged savior” approached and was gut wrenched at the reality of this story - Meena was doomed from the start all because she loved.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Islamophobia, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

jess_michiko's review

emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

A whirlwind of emotions reflections on loving a country with hurtful politics. Truly unforgettable story that brings you compassion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual assault and Medical content

Minor: Animal cruelty

criticalgayze's review

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma