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Summary and Reviews of Honor by Thrity Umrigar

Honor by Thrity Umrigar

Honor

by Thrity Umrigar
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
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  • First Published:
  • Jan 4, 2022, 336 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Oct 2022, 352 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

A Reese's Book Club Pick! In this riveting and immersive novel, bestselling author Thrity Umrigar tells the story of two couples and the sometimes dangerous and heartbreaking challenges of love across a cultural divide.

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.

In this tender and evocative novel about love, hope, familial devotion, betrayal, and sacrifice, Thrity Umrigar shows us two courageous women trying to navigate how to be true to their homelands and themselves at the same time.

CHAPTER FIVE

Smita's heart began to flutter, and her hands turned clammy within moments of strolling down the Causeway . Her anxiety wasn't caused by the vendors at the roadside stalls who begged her to examine their leather purses and silver jewelry and wooden statues. It wasn't because she heard her own distant laughter in the laughter coming from the schoolgirls walking ahead of her, saw her former self in the way they half skipped, half walked down the sidewalk. It wasn't because she passed Metro Shoes and remembered going there with Mummy at the start of each school year. It wasn't because she passed shops selling schoolbags and remembered Papa buying new backpacks for her and Rohit at the start of each school year. It wasn't even because she walked past the Olympia Coffee House and remembered the egg bhurji breakfast that Papa used to sometimes treat her to on Saturdays.

Her hands went clammy because she was close to the one street that she'd hoped to avoid forever.

Spencer Road. ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
  1. Smita tells Mohan that her India is not his India. What does she mean?
  2. How is Meena's India different from Smita's? What explains the differences?
  3. Meena relates her story to us directly, in the first person. Why do you think the author chose this point of view?
  4. Meena's brothers think they are doing the moral thing, the right thing, by punishing their sister and her husband. Honor killings are a fact of life in many parts of the world. What do you think it will take to change this cultural practice?
  5. What do you think of a system where the village council and the head of that council have so much power? What are the consequences of those positions being held by men?
  6. Why didn't Smita's father change their name back to their family name ...
Please be aware that this discussion guide may contain spoilers!

Here are some of the comments posted about Honor.
You can see the full discussion here.


Did you recognize any common touchpoints across the cultures of India and America? What aspects reminded you of life in America?
Many people have posted excellent points that contrast India and America and sadly our country is becoming more controlling in many ways including civil liberties, book banning, voter suppression on the other hand we have more support groups while ... - carriem

Honor killings are a fact of life in many parts of the world. What do you think it will take to change this cultural practice?
It is so sad to think that honor killings could remain a part of life as we know it, but that should not prevent world leaders and others from attempting to educate all people to the inhumanity of this behavior. Human dignity should somehow prevail ... - cece

How do their cultures inform Smita and Meena's relationships? If you are in a committed relationship, how do you think it would have been affected if it had begun in a different culture?
In my neighborhood where I grew up it was difficult and caused family trauma for a Protestant to marry a Catholic. But it didn’t get someone burned alive. We have come a long ways in 60 years. The consequences were just so much more ... - gingiew

How is Meena's India different from Smita's? What explains the differences?
Meena's life is one of abject poverty. She is uneducated and her only prospect for work is in a factory. Smita comes from an educated family. Her father is a professor of Hindu studies and is proud of Smita's accomplishments. Meena'... - bonnieb

Meena relates her story to us directly, in the first person. Why do you think the author chose this point of view?
I think Meena is more realistic in the first person. Her innocence and love ring so true. - kathleenb

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Reviews

BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

It is hard subject matter to read, but Umrigar does it in such a way that you feel the injustice, the hate, the pain, but can continue reading. She is a master at balancing the horror of what mankind is capable of, while also showing the love, loyalty, and compassion that lives within so many (Kate S). I have read many of Thrity Umrigar's earlier works and found them all to be thoughtful and rich, and Honor is no exception (Nancy L). This was an easy book to rate: five stars, no hesitation. But the author is Thrity Umrigar, who never disappoints (Joan V)...continued

Full Review (716 words)

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(Reviewed by First Impressions Reviewers).

Media Reviews

BookPage
Thrity Umrigar's novel offers a well-rounded portrait of India...Whether she's writing about the bright lights of Mumbai or the poverty of village life, Umrigar excels at creating engaging situations and scenes. Readers will appreciate this novel's deep understanding of the many complexities of Indian society.

Minneapolis Star Tribune
Umrigar aptly tackles honor killings in rural India and paints Meena with agency and depth...Honor boldly examines a system that continues to greenlight brutality and serves as a poignant reminder that despite all odds, 'in every country, in every crisis, there are a handful of people who will stand against the tide.'

Shelf Awareness
Full-bodied and insightful, Honor is both a page-turning account of a horrific family drama and a meditation on the complexities of love—both personal and national.

Library Journal (starred review)
Indian-born, U.S.-raised journalist Smita abandons her vacation to visit Shannon, a newspaper colleague who's been hospitalized in Mumbai...Umrigar gives us a rounded perspective that shows how India still resonates with Smita and how it leads her to imagine a new and better nation.

Booklist
Umrigar excels in her juxtaposition of the contrasts between the tech hub image of contemporary India and the deep religious divisions that continue to wrack rural regions.

Kirkus Reviews
Umrigar's juxtaposition of urban norms with the archaic, impoverished rural hinterland, as well as Abdul's dreams of himself and Meena as a modern, integrated couple, delivers a clear message but a starkly delineated one, its allegorical quality intensified by one-dimensional supporting characters.

Publishers Weekly
Propulsive...Umrigar offers readers a broad understanding of the complicated issues at play in contemporary India, but the story fails to do the subject justice.

Author Blurb Reese Witherspoon
Complex and unfiltered ... Powerful story about family, devotion, and cultural truths.

Reader Reviews

Tony Conty

A Brilliant Cultural Expose
“Honor” by Thrity Umrigar exposes a side of India we rarely see. A woman loses her husband to arson after their interfaith marriage, and a reporter who left India voluntarily must return to her homeland to cover the story. Smita, the reporter, ...   Read More
CarolT

Eye-opening
Honor taught me so much about India that I don't know where to begin. Hard to put down. I'll be watching for more from Thrity Umrigar.
Nancy

Women in India
I thoroughly enjoyed this book because it addressed women's issues that I was unaware of in India. The plot was good and the characters were believable. I got caught up in this book and couldn’t put it down.
Bonnie Brody

Kept Me Riveted
I liked this book very much and was riveted from the beginning. The cross-cultural aspects of the novel were interesting and eye-opening. I appreciated the different perspectives and hoped for a good outcome. At times, I was close to tears, ...   Read More

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Beyond the Book



Escalating Anti-Muslim Sentiment in India

At the time of the partition in 1947, what was once the British colony of India was split, separating the predominantly Hindu Dominion of India (modern-day Republic of India) from the predominantly Muslim Dominion of Pakistan (modern-day Pakistan and Bangladesh). Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru envisaged India as a secular socialist democratic republic. Sadly, his vision did not endure, and anti-Muslim sentiment and violence have been a constant, increasingly so since the early 1990s. This issue is captured vividly in Thrity Umrigar's novel Honor, which centers around a Hindu woman who is suing her brothers for murdering her Muslim husband.

India is constitutionally secular, and the population is roughly 84% Hindu and 14% Muslim. ...

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Read-Alikes

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