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Publisher:
Atria Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster |
Release
Date: 2003 |
ISBN:
0743448782 |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Hardback, First Edition |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Nonfiction/Memoir |
Reviewed:
2003 |
Reviewer:
Carolyn Howard-Johnson |
Reviewer
Notes: |
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Honor
Lost
Love and Death in Modern-Day Jordan
By Norma
Khouri
The Consequences of Rampant Discrimination
Intolerance Nurtured Plagues Much of the World
By now,
most people in the western world know about the so-called "Honor
Killings" that are still condoned in the Arabic World. We are
shocked, disgusted, and appalled.
Honor
Lost is a memoir: a first-person account of just one of those
legalized murders in Jordan. Author Norma Khouri lived through the
horror of seeing her best friend-a part of her heart, soul and life-cut
down in her prime by her own family. That is an amazing story, but
there is another. Ms. Khouri escaped to the West to tell about it.
Jordan,
a democratic country where such heinous crimes are not only disregarded
but encouraged, is led by royalty that opposes these deeply-rooted
customs, but is powerless to make a difference. Efforts by the UN
and humanitarian agencies have also been ineffective. This author
hopes to achieve what they can't with the power of her pen.
She tells her story and that of her beloved friend clearly and dramatically.
Although the prose is not faultless, the story is as riveting as
a finely-wrought novel, the language simple and honest. Khouri includes
an afterword that explains the tribal beliefs and politics that
foster this horrendous outcome of intolerance, along with short
descriptions of similar documented cases from her country. She tells
us that the practice is not declining, but growing. Her book ends
with a section titled "Farewell" that seethes with the
melancholy experienced by those who have no home.
The
book does not include a section offering steps that each of us might
take to begin to mitigate these crimes against humanity. I know
they exist. Perhaps this information will be addended in the next
edition. Perhaps it could be placed on her publisher's Website,
along with the excerpt they provide. Concrete suggestions would
be the brilliant cut diamonds in the crown of Ms. Khouri's cause.
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