Hermine is the HOST.
In Honor, Indian American journalist Smita has returned to India to cover a story, but reluctantly: long ago she and her family left the country with no intention of ever coming back. As she follows the case of Meena—a Hindu woman attacked by members of her own village and her own family for marrying a Muslim man—Smita comes face to face with a society where *tradition carries more weight than one’s own heart.*
Reading the book we were all so anxious and horrified.
How can you change the mindness and the attitute of those people that in name of Honor and religion are violent and able to kill innocent people?
A very sad representation of India, where women are humiliated and have no rights. It's the unseemly side of the country, blighted by cultural conservatism, poverty, sectarian violence, caste hierarchies and misogyny.
Remember, Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu fundamentalist.
The Author said:
“ _You have to understand that I wrote Honor during the Trump years_ ,” she says. _“I was writing about India, but I was also writing about my own adopted country. This othering of others is not a phenomena you can assign to any one country. The trend winds are blowing across the world’s two largest democracies, India and the United States. I am sometimes appalled and bewildered and dismayed by the parallels.”_
It's true we can found many similarities in other countries!
But to read is to comprehend and to comprehend is to act...
A great book!!! Thanks Hermine and everyone for the great discussion.
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