Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Honor by Thrity Umrigar

21 reviews

kelly_e's review against another edition

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

Graphic: Classism, Sexism, Murder, Violence, Torture, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Racism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, and Cursing

death of partner, mutilation, poverty

yukirarin's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Honestly had mixed feelings about Smita at the beginning with how negative she was about India as a country, it initially gave me the impression that the author may have been trying to paint India itself as a general country in a negative way just because. But the explanations for her character traits became so well defined and explained in the second half of the book it made me do a 180. This book made me feel so much feelings and it's complicated for me to process them. 

I don't belong to a racial minority, being a Chinese in Singapore. But I know how I'd likely be seen if I were to go to more southern parts of the USA for instance. Racial segregation has never been something I'd been forced to think about until I read this book. A man's honor is not something I had ever had to think to step around. The saddest thing is that this story rang so true to me of a case I remember hearing coming out of India years ago, where men thought the life of a woman was just disposable because they felt like they were dishonored. It's a painful reality, one that I'm sure does not just exist within the beautiful words of this book but also is just daily life for many others around the world. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Violence

euphoricallydreaming's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

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

theabee's review against another edition

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

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Murder, Torture, Abandonment, Hate crime, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence

nancybv's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Religious bigotry

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol and Medical content

elchiang78's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Murder, and Torture

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!!

---

Content Warnings

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

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

aayaannaa's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Islamophobia, Medical content, Death of parent, Rape, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Racism