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fruity999's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Rape, Trafficking, Child death, Torture, Murder, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Death, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy
jbriaz's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
4.5 stars. A terrific story about a young woman facing the misogynistic practices prevalent in Pakistan. The story is gripping. But it is also unrelentingly dark, with tons of just horrific things happening to the main character. So it is definitely a difficult read.
sam_the_librarian's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
allispark's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
simon1967's review
5.0
Just finished No Honour by @AwaisKhanAuthor.
An authentic story packed with tension and pathos - and when I got off the rollercoaster I found I had a much fuller understanding of the misnomer 'honour' as it is applied in rural Pakistan, (and transplanted to the UK)
An authentic story packed with tension and pathos - and when I got off the rollercoaster I found I had a much fuller understanding of the misnomer 'honour' as it is applied in rural Pakistan, (and transplanted to the UK)
thebooktrail88's review
Visit the locations in the novel
An important read about so-called honour killings. Where girls and women are forced to marry against their will. IF they refuse , or dare to fall in love with someone who doesn't belong to their community or meet their family's standards in some other way then their family sees it as their duty to murder that woman as a matter of honour. An eye-opening read. A real insight.
tonyfrobisher's review
5.0
No Honour - Awais Khan
Beneath a tree, by a river, the fate of a teenage girl is decided upon before a baying mob - to be drowned by her family to restore honour for her transgressions, her sins.
A novel can do many things. It can be transportive, informative, educational and entertaining. It can be a commentary on society, or an escape from it. The one thing every novel should do is to make you grateful to the author for allowing you into their world, for allowing you to spend hours in the embrace of their words, their world's. And for letting those words resonate within you.
To take on and write a novel centred on honour killings in Pakistan is something few writers would attempt. But Awais Khan, has written an immensely powerful, important and significant book.
The practice of honour killing is still prevalent, yet seldom discussed in the media - sadly swept under the carpet - and very rarely conveyed in literature. Awais Khan has redressed this urgent need, by bringing the story of Abida to the page. Abida, who at 15, becomes pregnant and subjected to the ruling of the Pir - the village head and it's ruling committee, the jirga. To have fallen pregnant outside of marriage is the ultimate sin, and only the death of the girl, at the hands of their family, will restore honour. Such is the stark and brutal, barbaric reality. Yet her father Jamil, torn between loyalty and tradition, love and the notion of honour, has to decide whether to bring shame upon his family, to ostracize them, by choosing love and saving his daughter over killing her and restoring honour.
A novel that is complex, but skillfully portrayed. Aside from Abida and Jamil, Khan's cast of characters are odious and self serving, violent and again, sadly present and representative of parts of society in Pakistan, but across the Subcontinent and elsewhere in the world. From the poverty of a rural village to the drug fuelled streets of Lahore, slave house brothels and a drug overlord's mansion, there is a gritty underbelly to Awais Khan's writing. It is unflinching, never stereotyped, always tight and concise. It draws the reader in, creating images in the mind with a beautiful turn of phrase and a polished descriptive power.
No Honour is a beautifully written book. Though its subject of honour killing is a difficult, uncomfortable and painful one to read. What resolves the terrible events, the litany of evil, is the novel's heart. An empathy for those in this heinous situation, for Abida and Jamil and their family - and by extension every young female in fear of their life, should they too find themselves in Abida's and Jamil's situation. A bond of family, between father and daughter, the lengths a father would go to save and protect his child.
But what also comes through is Awais Khan's compassion, a sense of wanting to bring a difficult subject to light, so that society can tackle it and make the changes and progress that are so urgently needed.
I recommend that everyone should read No Honour.
A book that will shake you, anger and sadden you, but also one that will restore hope in the power of love to triumph over evil, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Beneath a tree, by a river, the fate of a teenage girl is decided upon before a baying mob - to be drowned by her family to restore honour for her transgressions, her sins.
A novel can do many things. It can be transportive, informative, educational and entertaining. It can be a commentary on society, or an escape from it. The one thing every novel should do is to make you grateful to the author for allowing you into their world, for allowing you to spend hours in the embrace of their words, their world's. And for letting those words resonate within you.
To take on and write a novel centred on honour killings in Pakistan is something few writers would attempt. But Awais Khan, has written an immensely powerful, important and significant book.
The practice of honour killing is still prevalent, yet seldom discussed in the media - sadly swept under the carpet - and very rarely conveyed in literature. Awais Khan has redressed this urgent need, by bringing the story of Abida to the page. Abida, who at 15, becomes pregnant and subjected to the ruling of the Pir - the village head and it's ruling committee, the jirga. To have fallen pregnant outside of marriage is the ultimate sin, and only the death of the girl, at the hands of their family, will restore honour. Such is the stark and brutal, barbaric reality. Yet her father Jamil, torn between loyalty and tradition, love and the notion of honour, has to decide whether to bring shame upon his family, to ostracize them, by choosing love and saving his daughter over killing her and restoring honour.
A novel that is complex, but skillfully portrayed. Aside from Abida and Jamil, Khan's cast of characters are odious and self serving, violent and again, sadly present and representative of parts of society in Pakistan, but across the Subcontinent and elsewhere in the world. From the poverty of a rural village to the drug fuelled streets of Lahore, slave house brothels and a drug overlord's mansion, there is a gritty underbelly to Awais Khan's writing. It is unflinching, never stereotyped, always tight and concise. It draws the reader in, creating images in the mind with a beautiful turn of phrase and a polished descriptive power.
No Honour is a beautifully written book. Though its subject of honour killing is a difficult, uncomfortable and painful one to read. What resolves the terrible events, the litany of evil, is the novel's heart. An empathy for those in this heinous situation, for Abida and Jamil and their family - and by extension every young female in fear of their life, should they too find themselves in Abida's and Jamil's situation. A bond of family, between father and daughter, the lengths a father would go to save and protect his child.
But what also comes through is Awais Khan's compassion, a sense of wanting to bring a difficult subject to light, so that society can tackle it and make the changes and progress that are so urgently needed.
I recommend that everyone should read No Honour.
A book that will shake you, anger and sadden you, but also one that will restore hope in the power of love to triumph over evil, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
ammybutcher's review
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
mesal's review
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
The theme of this novel was clearly more important to be conveyed than the story itself. Not that the story was bad—it progressed well and kept me interested in what came next—but the characters did not engage me as much as I hoped they would.