A review by hwks
Honor by Thrity Umrigar
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
- 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
I am inconsolable, this was devastating and beautiful.
It's always difficult for me to write reviews about books set in contexts or places where I am a foreigner and feel like my opinion on the subject matter is irrelevant. I don't want to impose my perspective as an outsider or participate in any kind of colonial-esque dialogue, but I think this was an amazing read for someone like me. Umrigar touches on the difficulty of coming home, feeling like an outsider to your native environment, how expanding one's world view impacts your ability to relate to your home. There is discussion of class relations, religious intolerance and gender violence. It's a horrifying book at times, with graphic descriptions and there were moments when it filled me with rage, but even still it was beautiful and sad, and somewhat, in some small way, hopeful.
It's always difficult for me to write reviews about books set in contexts or places where I am a foreigner and feel like my opinion on the subject matter is irrelevant. I don't want to impose my perspective as an outsider or participate in any kind of colonial-esque dialogue, but I think this was an amazing read for someone like me. Umrigar touches on the difficulty of coming home, feeling like an outsider to your native environment, how expanding one's world view impacts your ability to relate to your home. There is discussion of class relations, religious intolerance and gender violence. It's a horrifying book at times, with graphic descriptions and there were moments when it filled me with rage, but even still it was beautiful and sad, and somewhat, in some small way, hopeful.