Reviews tagging 'Death'

Honra by Thrity Umrigar

67 reviews

abigailslate's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

stellahadz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

I only wish this book had been longer. As sad and brutally heart-wrenching as it was to read, I loved every minute I spent with this story. Everything about it was so powerful: the imagery, the premise of the story, the characters and their experiences, and the emotions that I felt while reading. My heart broke for Meena, Smita, and all of the other characters who experienced horrific violence and hatred, and it was all the more heartbreaking to understand that this has happened, and continues to happen, to real people. I've seen some criticism of the ending in other reviews, and I can see why some people found it overly cliché, and why some people were generally critical of the

romance

aspect, but I was just glad that *someone* got a happy ending. I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it, but only if you're prepared to feel every emotion from curiosity to disappointment, from anger to hope. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Torture, Islamophobia, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual violence, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry

eelkin's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

about 80 pages into this book, i started to think i should probably quit it- smita, the protagonist, initially seems irritable, rude, and often unpleasant to be around, and the plot seemed intriguing but moved very slow. it’s when meena’s storyline is fully introduced that Honor comes into it’s own. after finishing it, i think it is one of the best love stories i have ever read, especially the parallelism between abdul/meena and smita and her love interest. i think so many topics are covered in this and so much discussion can come out of it. the balance of writing about love, religion, patriotism, the patriarchy, class differences, and india as the nuanced topics they deserve to be places thrity umrigar as a magnificent writer in my eyes. read this book!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent

aespaldon24's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

I was intrigued by the premise of the book and liked learning about this aspect of Indian culture. I particularly liked the chapters from Meena’s perspective. However, I found Smita and Mohan to both be irritating at times, particularly Smita.

And while I guessed from a mile away that it was going in that direction, I could have done without the romance subplot as I didn’t feel they had much chemistry to begin with and wasn’t invested in their relationship.

Despite that, it was still an interesting exploration of Indian culture, privilege and toxic masculinity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Torture, Islamophobia, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

hillysreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Islamophobia, and Murder

kpully13's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

alyssav20's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

jenhfultz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Vomit, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

aziziansahar's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

3.75

In the beginning it was tough to read the way Smita described India, obviously it had to do with her experiences when she was young but it felt disdainful but at a very surface level. Almost as if the author was only trying to relate the flaws of India with the stereotypes that white audiences would easily grasp. As someone from the Middle East/ South Asia crossroads, I understand the complicated and nuanced feelings that come with being from there while raised in the West, and a lot of times felt like I could relate to how Smita felt but a lot of her criticisms really pushed a western centric narrative… which I guess was the point. I just think Smita’s perspective was a little unrealistic of someone who was an Indian American. While I was reading what she had to say about India towards the beginning of the book it just read as a white girl who doesn’t understand the culture, but Smita is Indian and spent her childhood and a bit of her teenage life there. You can dislike and hate your country of origin but I just think it would come with less of an ignorant attitude towards it. 

I was very interested with Meena’s story as well which I applaud the author for. Dual perspective stories tend to fall flat on one perspective for me so I’m typically impressed when all parts of the story keep me intrigued. I know the events that happened in the story happen more often than we think and they deserve more attention. I’m happy to read books with diverse characters and ones that I felt connected to myself as a POC. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

akia_nanashi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Torture, and Violence