Honour
Shafak, ElifWhen Pembe and Adem Toprak migrate to London from Turkey in the 1970s, it is not just their children who accompany them but also the Turkish and Kurdish traditions of many generations. As they adjust to their new life as immigrants, a family crisis unfolds and the challenge of upholding these beliefs in a Western setting reaches breaking point.
Multiple narrators present this powerful story of faith and love, examining the resulting family tragedy with compassion and cultural insight. [Small font]
Pages
342
342
Year
2012
2012
Reviews
19-07-2023
Great development of characters. Enjoyable and educational read.
15-08-2022
Some of us wanted to restructure the story in a more orderly form. Everyone considered this a sad story.
31-05-2022
This was both a thought provoking and enlightening read. As women we acknowledged how lucky we are to live in NZ. Discussion centred around tradition, culture, migrant life and gender roles. Elif Shafak created a world we all got engrossed in. Highly recommended.
15-10-2021
A great read once you get into it. Some members rated this the best read - rated out of 191 book club books/reads.
25-05-2020
We choose many books with different cultures portrayed - and it's so positive to read and understand more - and to have a group who embrace the discussion around the various perspectives and views that we hold. An unexpected ending - which rather stretched the credibility - for me.
11-05-2020
We had varied ideas about the readability, finding it rather meandering and disjointed. It was thought provoking and promoted great discussion. Recommended to read in one hit.
04-03-2020
We had a mixed reaction to this book. Most of our group thought the book 'Honour' an excellent read. Interesting and informative about inherited customs - descriptive and well-written. Some found it too graphic and the content disturbing.
27-11-2019
The group found this book quite challenging. A variety of responses from different members covered the spectrum from 'enjoyable' to 'harrowing'. It engendered great discussion topics.
13-11-2019
Real insight into implications for women in Turkish society. Very well put together with comparison between life in London and life in Turkey. Culture follows you no matter where you move to.
01-11-2019
Book created a lot of discussion. Overall the group was very pleased to have read it. Comments included that it was beautifully crafted and written. Several found it hard at the beginning to work out the relationships and cope with the time changes.
16-10-2019
"Awful, but good". The group found the book quite difficult to read, but were all glad that they had persevered. We had a very animated discussion and many members said they would be interested to read more of Elif Shafak's books.
11-10-2019
Insightful, we all learned something.
09-10-2019
Most of our group agreed that the novel had a slow start. At times the non-chronological structure was disconcerting. However from about half way, the story did come together and all agreed that the many strands created a complex and enjoyable story. The booknotes were useful and helped our usual volatile discussion.
09-10-2019
Very well-written, and interesting to see how different cultures regard honour and shame.