Honor, Thrity Umrigar, author; Sneha Maathan, narrator
Two women, from two different walks of life, Smita and Meena, find common ground to communicate with each other and form a bond, even as their worlds collide and their differences can never be reconciled. The contrasts are many. One comes from privilege and the other from abject poverty. One is educated and the other illiterate. One works happily as a journalist, and the other is forbidden to work and is punished for being employed. Yet, both are compatible, as the plight of the one is going to be published to enlighten the public and the world about the atrocities that are committed in the name of religion, in the name of honor, the definition of which is often corrupted from its intended meaning.
This author was born in India and emigrated to America, just like Smita, but at different times in history. Umrigar came in the 70’s to study, and this book begins around the mid 90’s, when Smita and her family sought a place of refuge from religious prejudice. Still, regardless of the timeline, injustice still exists in parts of the world, and the author exposes the underbelly of that corruption. It once lurked loudly in many corners of her home country.
In this novel, Meena, a Hindu, had the misfortune of falling in love with Abdul, a Muslim. This book is the story of their forbidden love, one so pure, we will all hope to have had it, or to have it someday, a love that crossed the lines of what was acceptable. In their villages, villages that were backward and ruled by religious fundamentalists, the zealots worked their followers into a frenzy, calling on them to do unspeakable things when they felt dishonored.
Meena and Abdul met at the factory, a place Meena had been forbidden to work at by her brothers, although they happily stole her earnings which was considered theirs, since she, as a female, was entitled to nothing. She worked there to protect her sister who had been the one who insisted on working there. Abdul was different than most men; he treated Meena with enormous respect, even allowing her to taste food before he did, something no Hindu would do in her village. So, their love grew as the shameful behavior of her brothers grew. They believed Meena’s behavior was humiliating them in front of the other village men. The village elder agreed. He was a despicable person who believed in his own power, natural and supernatural, and he used it to control the villagers. As Smita pursues the investigation for her article, she witnesses the abuse Meena is forced to endure. At the same time, she begins to grow close to her companion, interpreter and guide, Mohan, a privileged Parsi (like the author, who was also a Parsi). Is their love acceptable? It seems that she too has found an unusual, sensitive man who respects women. The outcome of both these loves will be totally different.
The narrator who read this novel was excellent. She captured the spirit and importance of each scene, and each character was portrayed so authentically, that the book played out in the theater of my mind as if I was viewing a stage production. Umrigar has truly captured man’s inhumanity to man, but she has coupled it with man's ultimate humanity, as well. While she clearly illustrates that violence pursued in the name of G-d, is not G-dly, but rather is abhorrent, she finds ways to point out other moments in which the characters rise above their human failures to shine with boldness and goodness, lending justice to the use of the term honor.
Privilege does not make one worthy, character does, and the author has shown that Meena has the character and common sense to be a most worthy human being, and like all those who are poor or victims of circumstances stemming from fundamentalist religious beliefs or superstition, are deserving of decent lives and respect, and not of being tormented and punished or ridiculed. Meena was the perfect spokeswoman. Her words were genuine and heartfelt.
In this book, the author has explored the contrasts between the religious and temporal, sophistication and simplicity, elites vs commoners, and privileged vs the underprivileged on every page. In some cases, right and wrong , legal and illegal, retribution and reward, all depend on how money changes hands and on what religious group has more power. In India, a country of caste and division, we witness a place of contradictions. The Taj Mahal and the major cities are in stark contrast to the villages where the illiterate and poverty-stricken manage to eke out a meager existence, where women, like chattel, follow the rules of the men, their traditions and their culture closely. Women exist to cook, clean and birth babies. Women did as they were told, or they suffered the consequences. Men controlled everything, even what belonged to the women no longer belonged to them, but to their male siblings or husbands.
While this way of life exists today, it is rare, but there are places where religion and honor conflict with reality. In an interview, Umrigar stated that she feared the world was going backward not forward. She refers to the previous administration. She believes the progress made in the last couple of decades may be in the process of reversal. As a witness to the events of those decades she writes about, and the current one, I disagree with her. In her book, she has Anjelie (a lawyer who represented Meena in the murder case), and Smita, questioning whether or not they are purveyors of “poverty porn”, just to get headlines. Are they achieving their goal of enlightening the world to the problems women face that will encourage meaningful change? In some way, is not the author, Umrigar, with her books, not doing the same thing. When a character in this novel compares an unjustified horrible and heinous religious act, resulting in the murder of its victim, to a policeman who may have justifiably shot an unarmed black man resisting arrest, it gave me pause. Was this the author’s need to pass on her political viewpoint in a novel that had nothing to do with it. The two events had no comparison or common ground, and its inclusion diminished that moment in the book.
During an interview with Kabir Bhatia, at the the Hudson Library and Historical Society that is available on utube, I heard her say that the election of Trump appalled her. It concerned Trump’s dislike of the terrorism of religious zealots. Did that mean he disliked the religion of the zealot or the race of the terrorist? I think not. Thus, some of her examples gave away her political predilection, and perhaps not the reality to all people. I searched for an interview to find out if the incident mentioned stemmed from a real event that contained those words, but found none. It does not mean it does not exist, but that I could not find it.
Absent the mention of racism in America and the intimation of her dislike of Trump, both of which were totally out of place, for me, I would have given it five stars. There are moments in this book when it will be hard to go on, because the content is about incredible arrogance, injustice and brutality, but the book needs to be read to open other minds to the need to put an end to such behavior. ( )

I listened to this on MP3 CD all day yesterday, which was eleven and a half hours. I feel like I have had an incredible experience. Smita, an American Indiana journalist rushes to her co-worker's side. She thought that she was being called to comfort her during an emergency hip replacement surgery in Mumbai. But her friend wants her to step in and finish covering a story about Hindu woman who own family burned her husband to death and badly burned her out of honor. The woman, Meena had been pulled into working away from home by her sister to support their family, She reluctantly meets with a Muslim man who declares his love for her after watching her helping others at the factory.

While at the hospital, Smita meets a Mohan, an associate of her co-worker who acts as a translater and as person with insight into the local culture, a relationship slowly and guarded develops between Smita and Mohan. Smita decides to tell Mohan about her family escape from India long ago. Mohan is from a rich glass maker family. He falls for Smita and ts to be with her for the rest of his life.

There is a child, Abu, which means Honor from the marriage of Meena and Abdul, the most tragic marriage that I have ever read about.

This is a very emotional story, one of religious prejudice, murder, joy, extreme terror. It is the best one from Thrity Umrigar that I have read and I hope that every one reads it. ( )

Tells the tale 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 clever a story, it reluctantly: l9ng ago she and her family left the country with no intention of ever coming back. As she follows the case of. Elena-a Hindu woman attacked by members of her own village and family for marrying a Muslim man-Smita’s comes face to face with a society where traditioncarries more weight than one’s own heart, and a story that threatens to unearth the painful secrets of Smita’s own past.
The story shows how two women can remain true to their homeland and to themselves at the same time. ( )

A weird but true way to describe this book is a beautiful approach to the horrific, the story unfolds in a way that makes you feel so deeply. ( )

3.5⭐️

“Abru.
It means Honor.”

Meena Mustafa’s husband Abdul was burnt alive by her brothers in an attack that left a side of her face disfigured and left hand permanently damaged - an ‘honor killing’ as punishment meted out for the crime of marrying inter faith. Meena , a Hindu, fell in love with Abdul , a Muslim, leaving her home to be with him , an act that is viewed as dishonorable by her family and community. Four months of marriage ends in tragedy for Meena who was then pregnant with her daughter who she names Abru, Meena ,having survived because of the intervention of her brother-in-law who has since absconded fearing for his own life, goes against the wishes of mother-in-law and with the help of a lawyer ,who is fighting her case pro bono, reopens the case against her brothers and is now awaiting the verdict. Meena is aware of the deep seated corruption and potential danger she is up against but does not shy away from fighting her case in the honor of her husband’s memory and for the sake of her daughter so that she would grow up knowing that her mother did her best to fight for justice.

Indian American journalist Smita travels to India to continue the coverage of Meena’s story as a favor to a colleague ,Shannon, who is recuperating from surgery. Accompanied by Mohan, a friend of Shannon, who acts as translator and mediator and coordinating with Anjali , Meena’s lawyer, she travels to Meena’s marital home to meet her where she is a social pariah among her neighbors on account of fear and communal bias, She then travels to Meena’s native village to meet her brothers, who have been roaming freely after the charges were initially dropped, and the rich, powerful and unscrupulous village head who orchestrated the whole incident and is brazenly confident of the verdict being ruled in the their favor.

Smita is settled in the United States, but her family was once based in Mumbai with her having spent the first 14 years of her life there. While acknowledging that India is a country of rich culture and knowledge with an economy that is growing in leaps and bounds , in Meena she bears witness to the plight of less fortunate women in rural India stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty, lack of infrastructure and education and the influence of men acting as God in their own little kingdoms with little or no interference from local law enforcement . Having traveled the world on various assignments she has covered events associated with power struggles, poverty , religious intolerance and violence against women. But now she feels unable to deny her roots and it is this pull she feels that prevents her from treating this assignment and in turn Meena in the objective or dispassionate manner her profession demands. Her experience becomes a personal one which in turn forces her to recall the traumatic incidents that prompted her own family to migrate to the United States over twenty years ago . Smita (and the reader) is compelled to draw parallels. The stark contrast of their lives and the life altering impact of their respective ordeals are revealed through a powerful narrative that will keep you engaged till the every end.

In Honor, the author delves into a social issue headlining Indian and international news media- honor killings. The vivid descriptions from the Mumbai coastline to the bullet ridden walls of the Leopold Café (that bear witness to the terrorist attacks of November 26, 2008) and the street markets of Colaba to the rural countryside and rough terrain of Birwad and Vithalgaon are so beautifully penned that you feel like you are sharing Smita’s journey. But the romantic track was unnecessary (with its Indian movie style love story) and lessened impact of what could have been a more powerful novel.I have read several of Thrity Umrigar’s novels in the past and I feel Honor would deserve a place amongst her very best if it were not for the ending, with the author shifting focus onto Meena and Mohan's relationship.

However, it is a hard-hitting , evocative and compelling novel. The author has exhibited considerable restraint and respect while dealing with a sensitive topic. Not an easy read but when a story revolves around social evil, it is not meant to be. It is unfortunate when the very men who believe in upholding the honor, values and beliefs of a particular caste, creed or religion fail to comprehend that as human beings there is no honor in intolerance and discrimination, there is no honor in communal hatred and there is certainly no honor in violence fueled by that hatred. At the risk of sounding preachy, I will say that as one of many women who can confidently claim to have had it better , the question we can ask ourselves and act upon is what we can actually do for women who are not as fortunate.
“Smita herself had repeated the platitudes about the humanizing effects of literature and narrative journalism, how each medium cultivated empathy in readers. But toward what end?" ( )