A Sister To Honor
by Lucy Ferriss
Why did you choose this book? I’ve been reading a lot of ‘Muslim women’ stories
When did you read this book? January 2015
Who should read this book? readers who enjoy reading stories of other cultures
Source: Library
Afia Satar is studious, modest, and devout. The young daughter of a landholding family in northern Pakistan, Afia has enrolled in an American college with the dream of returning to her country as a doctor. But when a photo surfaces online of Afia holding hands with an American boy, she is suddenly no longer safe—even from the family that cherishes her.
Rising sports star Shahid Satar has been entrusted by his family to watch over Afia in this strange New England landscape. He has sworn to protect his beloved sister from the dangerous customs of America, from its loose morals and easy virtue. Shahid was the one who convinced their parents to allow her to come to the United States. He never imagined he’d be ordered to cleanse the stain of her shame...
My Review
I saw this one listed a couple of months ago and couldn’t wait for it’s release date! I have been reading a few books about Muslim women lately, so I put this one on reserve as soon as I could. It is always so much fun to be the FIRST to read a new library book!
This one was well worth the wait. I actually lost sleep over this one because I couldn’t put it down. The book was an emotional roller coaster, centered around Afia Satar, a pre-med student from Pakistan attending a small woman’s university in New England. Her brother Shahid is the star athlete for his squash team at a nearby university. A major theme in the book is honor, and how our understanding of honor shapes who we are. Many of the characters in this book act out of ‘honor’ but we learn that different people, and different cultures, have different interpretations of the word ‘honor’.. We also see how hard it is to understand a culture different than our own, as both Afia and her American friends struggle to understand and accept these different interpretations.
I really felt like I got to know these characters and I worried about their fate. Afia was so sweet and innocent, torn between her love for Gus, an American student and teammate of Shahid, and her duty to her family to return home untainted by American values. Shahid was smart with such a bright future, and he loved his sister very much. He was torn between his desire to protect her and his obligation to redeem the family honor. This led to some tense moments when I feared for each of them! And just when I thought the story was coming to an end...it didn’t! There was a lot more story to tell!
This was definitely a WOW! read for me and I’ll be talking about this one for awhile. I won’t be at all surprised this December when it shows up on my ‘best reads of 2015’ list! This will be a great book club selection with discussion ranging from the definition of honor to family obligation and beyond!
My Rating: ★★★★★ 5 Stars
This one does sound interesting. I liked what you said the different ways that cultures look at the word 'honor' and what it means to them.
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