Honor
By Thrity Umrigar
Algonquin Books,9781643753300, 2022, 352 pp.
The Short of It:
Weighty.
The Rest of It:
In Honor, 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. ~Indiebound
I was immediately pulled into this story. Meena’s story of abuse at the hands of her own brothers, was intense in the telling. Permanently disfigured by fire and ridiculed by the entire village for falling in love and marrying a Muslim man, proved to be too much for her to overcome. As unwelcome as she is, her young daughter, Abra is what keeps her there. Forced to live with a MIL who hates her for what happened to her son, the only thing that grounds her are the ethereal visits of her husband Abdul as he makes his presence known through dreams.
Smita, a journalist, returns to India to assist a colleague who is having hip surgery. Her entire motivation for going is to just help her colleague during recovery. India is not a place she ever wanted to return to. Too many memories of when her family was forced to leave when she was a child. But when she arrives, she finds out that Shannon wants her to pick up Meena’s story. That her time in India will not be spent navigating recovery, but interviewing Meena, the MIL, the brothers that caused her so much pain. This was not in the cards, but how can such a story go untold?
Smita’s time in India is wrought with unpleasant memories, difficult people, and reluctant witnesses. Her only saving grace is the man who Shannon brought in to help navigate the language barrier. Mohan’s kindness, common sense and loyalty to Smita and Shannon prove to be invaluable.
This was an easy story to fall into given the weighty subject matter but the ending! No spoilers but I was not prepared for the ending. It was like a slap to the face! Overall, to say that I “enjoyed” this story would be a real stretch but I found myself taken by the characters and the difficulty presenting itself as Meena’s story is told. It was chosen for my book club and I think there will be plenty to discuss.
Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.
Book Chatter 
I loved The Space Between Us, and enjoyed The World We Found, so I’m going to get to this one eventually. It’s been on my list since it first hit the shelves. Sounds like a great book for a book club. Funny that you mention the ending of this book. I wrote the following about the ending of The Space Between Us:
This certainly isn’t a mystery, but at one point near the end of the book, I was dumbstruck after a detail was revealed. “Wow! I never saw that coming,” I thought.
I guess the author likes to insert a surprise/twist at the end of her stories.
To be honest, Umrigar’s books usually don’t sit well with me. I find them to be very stereotypical but I didn’t notice that so much in Honor. The ending. I guess I was just in denial or something because it really should not have surprised me.
I’ve had an ARC of this book for a few years and I know it’s tough, so I keep avoiding it. All of her novels I’ve read have been hits for me, yet I still shy away from this one…. I will get to this one.
It’s pretty good but heavy. I had to be in the right mood to pick it up.
I also feel strange saying I “liked” or “enjoyed” weighty stories, but this one was so well done! I, too, was pulled into it from the start. I read it on a plane trip and passed it on to a women sitting next to me at the end of the flight.
There sounds like a lot of tough stuff in this novel — so I have not picked it up. But I have read a few of her other books. It sounds like you didn’t like the ending! Endings are so crucial to books, argh.
I often find her books heavy.