Blasphemy

Blasphemy is Tehmina Durrani's novel about the exploitation at the hands of her husband. Many describe the novel to be about "religious" exploitation, however, it is evident in the story that religious plays no part in the sins of a man, its the exploitation of a religion that allows a mere man to act like God, in the case of this woman. A lot of Muslims may take offense to this book, however, I do not think that Durrani was speaking against Islam, as a matter of fact, I think this story condemns people in power (such as politicians and clergy-men, or worse...politicians who are also clergy-men, or clergy-men owned by politicians) who exploit and prey on the ignorant people; who thrive and exist on the hopes of their faith saving them. show more To make it clear, such exploitations take place in ALL cultures, and all religions - not just in Islam.

This is a heartbreaking read, however, quite crude and visual at times. You may feel the plight of the protagonist, but, if you're at all educated - you'll balk at the extreme nepotism and dictatorship of 'Peer Sain', and the ignorant and helplessness of the protagonist. My fear, and the thing that I do not appreciate about this book, is that someone/anyone reading it from the Western culture will believe that this is the way Pakistan is - Durrani makes NO attempt to clarify that what happens in this book is not the norm; it is merely an instance. show less

I am not really used to giving books 2 stars. Most of the time I'm lucky enough to lay my hands on a book that I like.

It was not the contents of the book, the harsh story of the life of a woman in Pakistan that irritated me. I'm very well aware of the fact that I do not even know a quarter of what is going on in the world of women outside the safe haven I grew up and still live in.

The thing that bothered me was that there was no background information, no information about the social structure, about the hierarchy both in the religious way as well as in the hierarchy of the household Hier ends up in.

The story starts with her being wed to a much older man and ends with her dying. (Much to my shame I must admit, that I did not quite show more understand the end / afterword.) My best guess is, that Hier's family faked her death and let her start anew with.... But is that really true?

Hier lives in a pool of sorrow, pain, humiliation. Untill a certain point in her life she's quite strong.
Somehow though, she can't persuade the other women and men to believe her story: she's a woman. But, despite that, I can't ignore the feeling that I have that the writer forgot that not all of us have (personal) experience with the world she describes. I miss a lot of back ground information, that would have given the story much more power for me.
And, for the translators: It is very annoying to have to look up a lot of words in the text because the weren't translated. I don't know any Arabic, apart from the most common words that have found their way into my own language. I suppose that's the same for most readers. If the choice is made not to translate because of 'couleur locale' I can understand. But too much of it got on my nerves and made the book weaker: I lost track of the story, because I often had to look up a word. And I had to check the spelling a second time, because I couldn't find it in the list.

Impressive story of a life of a woman who is suppressed by her husband, but I missed the real 'chicken skin' because of all reasons that I mentioned above. show less

De mooie Hier is nauwelijks vijftien als ze wordt uitgehuwelijkt aan Pir Saien, een religieus leider die door zijn aanhangers wordt beschouwd als de tussenpersoon tussen Allah en diens gelovigen. Ze komt te wonen in een haweli; een groot ruim huis met een centrale binnenplaats. Het wordt haar gevangenis; ze mag nooit naar buiten. De haweli wordt gezien als een bedevaartsplaats. Van haar man ontvangt Hier geen enkele liefde; ze wordt verkracht vanaf nacht één. De wreedheden van haar man worden steeds erger.
Het boek begint met de ochtend dat Pir Saien overleden is; het hele boek kijk je uit naar het moment dat dat gebeurt en dat Hier haar vrijheid terug zal krijgen. Maar dat laatste blijft uit.
Het verhaal - gebaseerd op het leven van show more de schrijfster - is er een van grote treurigheid; uitzichtloosheid en wekte in mij een grote woede op om de hypocrisie van de daden die zogenaamd uit Allah's naam worden gedaan. show less