A review by readingspells
Honour by Elif Shafak

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

I am clearly in the minority on this one but this book left me cold.

I struggled to keep up with the all the different characters in the first third to half of the book. I wish there had been a family tree at the back of the book as we jumped through so many different generations at times I found myself lost.

I felt like huge parts of peoples lives were just skipped over. Pembe and Jamila have 7 sisters and yet we know nothing about any of them apart from one, the oldest. They never mentioned them or corresponded with them in any way. 

We seem to spend far more time getting to know Yunnus than we do Iskender and no time at all really on Esme. I don't really understand why Yunnus was so detailed. Also their was no real build up to the killing. We don't get to feel any of the horror from either his side or Pembe's. 

I will definitely read something else by this author as I know a lot of her books are hugely popular but this one just didn't do it for me sadly.