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leelaamanda's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Islamophobia, and Rape
ridgewaygirl's review
3.0
The novel begins with a woman driving to pick up her brother on his release from prison. She's deeply ambivalent, and the novel then goes back in time; to Iskander's time in prison, to the months before he commits the crime, and farther back to the childhoods of their parents in Turkey, especially that of his mother, Pembe, who grows up in a small Kurdish village with her twin sister, who doesn't emigrate to England, but remains behind, unmarried and respected as being the closest thing that area has to a doctor.
Şafak varies the writing in the novel, with the Kurdish and Turkish portions reading like unfamiliar folktales and the parts set in London written in a more straightforward style. This is a novel about immigrants and their children, how they change in response to their new home and how they refuse to change, and how their children juggle two very different worlds.
This was an interesting and thought-provoking book. At times I was frustrated with the hypocrisy built into the patriarchal society the characters come from, but the writing was lovely and the issues and questions raised never took precedence over the characters.
Şafak varies the writing in the novel, with the Kurdish and Turkish portions reading like unfamiliar folktales and the parts set in London written in a more straightforward style. This is a novel about immigrants and their children, how they change in response to their new home and how they refuse to change, and how their children juggle two very different worlds.
This was an interesting and thought-provoking book. At times I was frustrated with the hypocrisy built into the patriarchal society the characters come from, but the writing was lovely and the issues and questions raised never took precedence over the characters.
wildandbeguiled's review against another edition
1.0
I had to read it for my thesis. had to. the abundance of coincidences is annoying, the book moves from character to character without rhyme or reason, giving too much detail about one while leaving another blank.
sayy123's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Very good book
freddie's review against another edition
5.0
Another amazing book by Elif Shafak. The characters are not only well-written and compelling, but also very diverse and it is really interesting to see the interactions and relationships forged between characters of different background. While this novel highlights the difficulties faced by women in a conservative community with a rather, dare I say, skewed view of what constitutes "honour" in a family, it is far from preachy.
kaylarust94's review against another edition
5.0
This one might be my favorite Elif Shafak novel so far.
Shafak writes such full characters and gives you so much information and backstory for each person. The care she takes really comes through for the story and creates a beautiful picture. That said, it makes for a slower read, but I love that about her novels, but is good to be aware of when starting.
This story portrayed the role honor and shame play in a Türk’s life. I think it especially communicated well the specific challenge women face in this country, and I was really moved by the story.
Shafak writes such full characters and gives you so much information and backstory for each person. The care she takes really comes through for the story and creates a beautiful picture. That said, it makes for a slower read, but I love that about her novels, but is good to be aware of when starting.
This story portrayed the role honor and shame play in a Türk’s life. I think it especially communicated well the specific challenge women face in this country, and I was really moved by the story.
kyliegold's review
3.0
I read this one because I loved Shafak’s other book (The Island of Missing Trees). This book was interesting and centered on family dynamics/honor (as the name suggests). For the first half I was trying to keep all of the characters straight because there were so many people to keep track of. Kinda gave me Notes on an Execution vibes with the prison perspective. For most of the book I was like idk how the ending could possibly shock me but there still was a plot twist so that upped the rating a bit!
laurarm's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Ein sehr trauriges und tiefgründiges Buch, das viel über verschiedene Kulturen verrät. Obwohl das Verständnis von Ehre und Scham nach wie vor nicht nachvollziehbar scheinen, war der Einblick in die Gedanken und Gefühle der Figuren sehr tief. Das Buch enthält viele Emotionen, leider auch viele negative, die jedoch nicht über dramatisch werden. Grade bei dem Thema Ehrenmord hätte man sehr viel theatralischer werden können- es ist eine Stärke des Buchs, das es auch den anderen kleinen Momenten ebenso einen Platz zugesteht und diese auserzählt werden.
Das Ende war eine Überraschung, die das Buch deutlich aufwertet. Keine losen Enden - das kriegt man bei Romanen mittlerweile nicht mehr oft.
Das Ende war eine Überraschung, die das Buch deutlich aufwertet. Keine losen Enden - das kriegt man bei Romanen mittlerweile nicht mehr oft.
arcshade3001's review
3.0
This book left me bewildered.
The central idea, of course, is easy to catch- men, even newborn ones, are honourable and important. Women have no honour, only sham- everything in their lives revolves around avoiding dishonour to their menfolk.
Inherently dishonourable though the idea itself, I recognize that this is a code that millions of women and men around the world live by. What I cannot come to terms with is how easily Elif Shafak's characters accept it in this book. Having read Forty Rules of Love and The Bastard of Istanbul, I can't help feeling let down by the characters, and the narrative too. The writing is fluid and easy to read, asynchronously leading to the major event of the story where Iskender stabs his mother to death for the sake of the family's 'honor'. Shafaq's characteristic prose and astute observations shine through the cloudy world of conservative immigrants in London in brief sparks in which I recognize the author I love. What lets me down throughout the novel is how each woman in the book is resigned to quantify herself with the flimsy honour of their menfolk- their fathers, their husbands, and their children- accepting her enforced sense of shame in being born as a woman, living in fear of 'dishonouring' her family, sticking only to the tenets she has imbibed from her childhood, never questioning their validity. I am not a mother, and I wonder how a mother can forgive her son who stabbed her for having a life separate from his own, and for being happy in that life. Being a woman, she had brought shame to her family because she loved a man other than her husband, and went to watch movies with him. Being a man, her absentee husband, who classically spent all their money gambling, was still honourable, still commanded respect.
I am aware that this basic difference is the cornerstone of the patriarchy women struggle against from the day we are conceived, but I had never expected Elif Shafak's narrative to be so accepting, so forgiving of sins so great and widespread. I am bewildered, and disheartened.
On another note, I have to compare this to We Need To Talk About Kevin, another book with a tangled mother-son relationship, another book where a son kills a parent- and many others. We..Kevin was entirely from the mother's perspective- her difficulties trying to understand her son as a person, her efforts to give him the parenting that he needs. She recognizes the deviance in her son that no one else can see, but is helpless in the face of his masterful personality. Her parenting is a direct contrast to Pembe's in Honor. Pembe, a full-time mother, is described by each of her children as being distant and aloof, always being occupied by something else. She communicates with her daughter only to tell her what she must never do- yet another aspect of the honour-shame equation. She only dotes on her sons, yet they too describe her as being curiously absent. Her innate favouritism for her elder son is disturbingly similar to his girlfriend's needy adoration, both keep growing the worse Iskender treats them. So many strained and halfway relationships leave much to think about, though, but not coming to conclusions is rather perplexing.
The central idea, of course, is easy to catch- men, even newborn ones, are honourable and important. Women have no honour, only sham- everything in their lives revolves around avoiding dishonour to their menfolk.
Inherently dishonourable though the idea itself, I recognize that this is a code that millions of women and men around the world live by. What I cannot come to terms with is how easily Elif Shafak's characters accept it in this book. Having read Forty Rules of Love and The Bastard of Istanbul, I can't help feeling let down by the characters, and the narrative too. The writing is fluid and easy to read, asynchronously leading to the major event of the story where Iskender stabs his mother to death for the sake of the family's 'honor'. Shafaq's characteristic prose and astute observations shine through the cloudy world of conservative immigrants in London in brief sparks in which I recognize the author I love. What lets me down throughout the novel is how each woman in the book is resigned to quantify herself with the flimsy honour of their menfolk- their fathers, their husbands, and their children- accepting her enforced sense of shame in being born as a woman, living in fear of 'dishonouring' her family, sticking only to the tenets she has imbibed from her childhood, never questioning their validity. I am not a mother, and I wonder how a mother can forgive her son who stabbed her for having a life separate from his own, and for being happy in that life. Being a woman, she had brought shame to her family because she loved a man other than her husband, and went to watch movies with him. Being a man, her absentee husband, who classically spent all their money gambling, was still honourable, still commanded respect.
I am aware that this basic difference is the cornerstone of the patriarchy women struggle against from the day we are conceived, but I had never expected Elif Shafak's narrative to be so accepting, so forgiving of sins so great and widespread. I am bewildered, and disheartened.
On another note, I have to compare this to We Need To Talk About Kevin, another book with a tangled mother-son relationship, another book where a son kills a parent- and many others. We..Kevin was entirely from the mother's perspective- her difficulties trying to understand her son as a person, her efforts to give him the parenting that he needs. She recognizes the deviance in her son that no one else can see, but is helpless in the face of his masterful personality. Her parenting is a direct contrast to Pembe's in Honor. Pembe, a full-time mother, is described by each of her children as being distant and aloof, always being occupied by something else. She communicates with her daughter only to tell her what she must never do- yet another aspect of the honour-shame equation. She only dotes on her sons, yet they too describe her as being curiously absent. Her innate favouritism for her elder son is disturbingly similar to his girlfriend's needy adoration, both keep growing the worse Iskender treats them. So many strained and halfway relationships leave much to think about, though, but not coming to conclusions is rather perplexing.