What readers think of Honor, plus links to write your own review.

Honor was one of the best books I have read this year. Not only was it beautifully written but the story enlightened me to the struggles of women from India as well as the animosity that still exists between Hindus and Muslims. I highly recommend this book.

Honor was well written, with a compelling storyline. Heartbreaking and anger inducing. As a reader, I was filled with admiration for the bravery, selflessness, and empathy of the main characters. The contrast between old and modern India was well portrayed. All in all, an excellent and important book. Highly recommended.

Umrigar presents us with many conflicts in "Honor." We see modern India vs. remote Indian villages. We see Hindu vs. Muslim, we see an Americanized Indian woman vs. one entrenched in the atrocities carried out by her village. While reading "Honor" aroused strong emotion, it also provided a beautiful story that captured my interest and introduced compelling characters. I would strongly recommended this for reading groups as the discussions might well be rewarding. I am always happy to recommend a title that causes one to reflect and to empathize.

I've been a fan of Thrity Umrigar's fiction since the 2006 publication of The Space Between Us. A Mumbai native who emigrated to the US at 21, her novels all explore the various "spaces" between us—caste or class, religion, race, above all gender—within the social context of modern India, but with timely parallels to the United States. I am drawn to her distinctive protagonists, women whose struggles to develop their unique selves are always for the sake of something larger, something at stake for humanity, theirs and ours.

Honor likewise presents the dilemma of a relatable young woman, Smita—a Mumbai native who is now an American journalist, reluctantly returning to India on an assignment she accepted as a favor to a friend—as not merely a personal or political problem, but ultimately as a quandary that challenges us to think about what matters most. Her assignment is to profile Meena, a Hindu villager whose Muslim husband was burned to death in an "honor killing" by Meena's brothers. Meena, left disfigured in the attack, has brought charges; a verdict pends.

Umrigar's strength is her great storytelling. As always, not a word is wasted here as she moves us through urban Mumbai and into Meena's rural village, settings like and unlike our own…and into complex encounters and confrontations that Smita views with double vision as an Indian-American. Her investigation stirs up painful memories of her youth in Mumbai, during the years when rising Hindu nationalism reawakened the violence of partition, now a fact of life in India (as in America). Suspense builds.

At the center of the story is Smita's developing bond with Meena and with Mohan, the friend of her journalistic friend, who is acting as her guide, driver and protector, in a village where women are not supposed to work, let alone as journalists.

I highly recommend Honor as an engrossing story that rewards us with far more than entertainment.

Honor is an excellent book which did not surprise me as Thrity Umrigar is an excellent author. From the title "Honor" I knew it would be about an honor killing.
The book gave a good description of the difference between the city and villages. I was surprised at how much authority and power the tribal chief had in his village .I plan to research how a chief is chosen (heredity or votes). When Smita tells about her childhood and why she went to America, it explains her love/hate relationship with India. The violence is tempered by the love stories of both Meena and Smita which keeps the book from being too depressing.
Parents, the world over, all want a better life for their children and are willing to sacrifice themselves to obtain it. This is a good book for a Book Club, and I will also tell all my friends to read it.

There are only a handful of books that I don't want to end because I am so taken into the story; and when it does end, I cannot get it out of my mind. HONOR is one of those books. It is a 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. Loved the book, loved the title, loved, the cover, I hope the publisher keeps the mangos. Such a simple image, but really the start of a love story. Highly recommended!

I have read many of Thrity Umrigar's earlier works and found them all to be thoughtful and rich and "Honor" is no exception. The writing is evocative as we follow Smita, an Indian American journalist, into the deep and complex world of Indian society. We see the strong currents of religious bigotry (Hindu versus Muslim) as well as the ever present role of women as second class citizens. Umrigar explores what it is to be an Indian woman as she draws us into the horrors of what could happen if one crosses the invisible line of religion, caste, or class. This novel really spoke to me and I highly recommend it.

Upon opening the book there lies a newspaper headline, "HINDU WOMAN SUES BROTHERS WHO KILLED HER MUSLIM HUSBAND." HONOR is an absorbing, captivating book I could not stop reading. You will be transported to India where you will learn about the American journalist who tells the story of Meena and Abdul. As the novel unfolds, you will meet other characters that allow us to comprehend Indian culture and traditions. These pages are written with reality, tenderness and give insight into how we are more alike than different. HONOR allows the reader to truly experience the angst of these characters through their ordeals. The book has much discussion for book clubs: oppression, opportunity, hope, religious differences, familial devotion, misogyny, friendship, betrayal, love, and HONOR. I LOVED this book and I will recommend it to my book club.