Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Honor

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Honor by Thrity Umrigar

30 reviews

aayaannaa's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes

5.0

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laurxndxx's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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? No

5.0

Thank you to NetGalley, Thrity Umrigar and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Honour is an excruciating book to read, but only because it opens your eyes to the harsh reality other people are facing in different countries. I think this book should be taught in schools to make others aware of their privilege.

Indian American journalist Sima arrives back in India since the time her family were driven out and moved to America years before. She ends up following the story of Meena, a woman who was burnt, and her husband murdered. All because of his religion and her culture. Reporting on her story Sima becomes aware of how unfair the justice system can be, and unlocks similar memories to her childhood.It’s a heartbreaking story and is a one that will stay with me forever.

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jayisreading's review

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

3.75

I had a lot of mixed feelings about this novel, though I wouldn’t necessarily say it was bad. To start with the good, while not perfectly executed, I really appreciated how Umrigar approached the nuances of privilege and its relationship to intersections of identity in India; how one navigates different spaces and conversations will heavily depend on one’s class, race, gender, religion, and nationality. This was especially explored through the protagonist, Smita, who is a relatively well-off Indian American Hindu woman in her motherland as a journalist.

All of this comes about through an in-depth look into religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims in India and the consequences that come with it. This is explored through a literal legal case in the book of a Hindu woman, Meena, who was violently attacked by her village for marrying a Muslim man, and the book’s primary focus becomes a push to get justice for her, which is all being documented by Smita. However, there was this indifferent yet voyeuristic perspective that felt a little off-putting, as it spun grief and trauma into a kind of sensational story that, frankly, I thought became more in-your-face due to it being presented as a legal case. In a way, there was some self-awareness of this perspective through the conflicted feelings Smita has of being back in India.

I think because of the way the book was framed, it led to me wanting more details about Meena’s case, and we sometimes get that from chapters that told her story from her perspective. There was a lot left to be desired with how the case come to an end, though. It also felt like Umrigar set aside Meena’s situation to focus more on the budding romance between Smita and her companion, Mohan. And, I won’t lie, it really rubbed me the wrong way how this explicitly came about.

Overall, I think there were a lot of complex ideas presented throughout Honor that made it hard to parse out how I felt about this book. I can’t help but wonder how different the book would be if it was framed differently and not through the eyes of a journalist.

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-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? Yes

4.75

Honor is a harrowing, heartbreaking read. It’s the intersecting story of two Indian women, Smita and Meena. One pays a terrible price for love and attempting to gain justice. The other comes to terms with the past and makes peace with the country of her birth.

The story highlights a lot of problems in Indian society - the caste system, poverty, religious hatred, police and judicial corruption, the chasm between urban and rural areas as well as between the educated and uneducated, not to mention misogynistic, patriarchal, sexist attitudes to women. Unfortunately it doesn’t take much effort to find news headlines that underscore the truth of this fictional work, although, as the novel also shows, India is more than its social issues.

The storytelling was absorbing although I did find it a little heavy handed at times and it clearly catered to a Western audience. These are relatively minor quibbles and overall I really enjoyed this powerful book.

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mariedhut's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

3.25

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corinnereadsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? No

4.5

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zeebookdragon's review

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challenging dark emotional 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? No

3.75

This book was powerful. So many emotions happened at the same time.

I wanted to hug women for their bravery.

I wanted to kick the men who took out the hits to their fragile ego on women.

I was mostly just horrified at how pervasive this idea of “honor” continues to be. This story takes place in India, but similar instances are occurring all over the world. Smita was a wonderful narrator who was able to view India as her homeland and as a visitor. Her unique perspective as a journalist who has seen the worst of humanity placed the story of Meena on a larger scale.

Summary: Smita rushes to the bedside of an injured friend only to take over the task of covering a story about a woman’s husband who was murdered because he was muslim and she was Hindu. Smita becomes invested in helping Meena fight for justice in a system primed by those with money and influence.

All of this novel was frustrating and important.

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bookishnookish's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book has shattered my heart. I finished it and can't stop crying, not only because of how sad it is, but because no matter how hard I want this to be mere fiction, this is a reality. Gender biases, classism, casteism, corruption - show up time and again. So many of us are lucky to have been raised in cities, moved to more modern countries, but when you read Honor, your heart will ache because some of these ills have touched your life too and yet you are the lucky one.

I grew up in a Hindu household that acknowledged and accepted all other religions. We went to church on Sunday with my grandparents, who were Christian, we celebrated Eid with my parents' Muslim friends, we celebrated every festival, spoke 4 languages, and for the longest time, I thought the entire world was like that, multicultura and accepting. I quickly grew up to see reality, but I staunchly remained as open minded as I could. I married a Catholic, mixed race man, who is a wonderful human being, but not once can I forget that I get to make this choice now because we were lucky and because of the life our parents made for us, the privileges and opportunities provided to us. So many of my countrymen and especially women do not have this choice.

I applaud Thrity Umrigar for shedding light on a very difficult topic. I am sure this book is going to have its naysayers, but there is a lot of love in this book too. I was reminded of all the places, people, and foods I love and for that, I am so thankful.

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bookshelf_al's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad fast-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? No

5.0

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andrea_90's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

This book makes you rethink how do you define Honor, as ironically this word has been used so many times by bad people to justify what they did. It also shows how we can love someplace despite its flaws. Most importantly it described heartbreakingly what the sacrifice needed to be made for love.

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