Out of The silence- Owen Mullen
Afra and Jamal have been in each others lives as long as they can remember. When
Afra is taken away promised to a stranger as a bride, Jamal is downhearted but tell
her that he realises that he is not good enough for her and that she should go to the
family of a rich man. Once she has left he travels to Lahore to find his Uncle and
never having been out of his village before finds this both daunting and exciting in
equal measure. Wise words” If we allow the opinion of other to matter we’re in
their power. What they think of us becomes what we think of ourselves. The only
opinion of you that matters is your own”. Jamal works hard and rises through the
ranks in his uncle’s business. Afra meanwhile is not so fortunate. Years later when
there are some murders, the bangles that they gave each other are at the side of
the victims. What is going on? I really enjoyed this and liked and felt for both
Jamal and Afra. Women in Pakistan having to endure inequality for so long and
laws being very much against them. I learnt something from this book. For
example if a woman is raped- she has to get the word of four male witnesses
other wise she , the victim, is charged with adultery. What? OMG. (ref: Her
Honor: An Islamic Critique of the Rape Laws of Pakistan from a Woman-
Sensitive Perspective). Times have fortunately changed- the above paper
was written only in 1997, in real terms very recently.
A brave subject dealt with very well.
For more reviews please see my blog http://nickibookblog.blogspot.co.uk/
or follow me on Twitter @nickijmurphy1
Amazon Top 1000 reviewer.
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