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May 17, 2019 - Booked Solid by Terri Schlichenmeyer

Inside an Honor KillingInside an Honor Killing 
by Lene Wold

c.2019, Greystone Books
$26.95/higher in Canada,
224 pages

Your father’s hands were always rough.

In your memories, they were nimble, too; enough to fix a doll or thread a hook as easily as holding a fork, and it was never a problem for your little fingers to fit around his. Your father’s hands were calloused and strong but, unlike those in the new book Inside an Honor Killing by Lene Wold, they were not meant for murder.

She had to lie to set up the interview.

Lene Wold knew that, as a lesbian, she was in danger just traveling through Jordan, so she made up a fictitious husband for her own safety. She lied to be prepared, should the subject come up during conversations she had with “Rahman” who, after over a year of effort, finally sat across from her in a small café.

He was a killer, but she knew that he deserved to tell his side of the story.

When he was a child, Rahman told her, he witnessed the death of a young classmate buried up to her shoulders in desert sand. The seven-year-old had been raped, he said, but that act brought shame on her family because villagers believed that she had caused it. Stoning her brought honor back.

Rahman wasn’t supposed to have witnessed the killing, and when his mother learned that he did, she packed her things and left, a departure that impacted him for the rest of his life. He vowed that what happened in his father’s house wouldn’t happen in his when he married a very conservative woman, and raised two daughters and a son.

Years later, as the younger daughter, seventeen-year-old Amina, prepared for marriage, she noticed that her nineteen-year-old sister, Aisha, seemed preoccupied. Only when Amina overheard intimacies and learned that Aisha had fallen in love with another woman, did she understand her sister’s fears: there is no law against homosexuality in Jordan, but it’s a cultural sin that brings shame on a family, and Aisha’s secret couldn’t be held.

And so, pressured by his wife, Rahman acted to restore honor.

There is no way to soften this: Inside an Honor Killing is absolutely chilling.

An ice-down-the-spine account of a rape that inexplicably didn’t happen opens this book, illustrating the dangers author Lene Wold endured to get the interviews she needed to tell this story. That, and the how and why of it, are the book’s introduction and while you’re there, Wold also shares statistics that will put you in a heightened state of anticipation, though you know what ultimately happens.

Take a quick breath, then, before you plunge into chapter one, because that’s the last chance you’ll get for air as this story alternates between Arabian Nights and Nightmare on Elm Street, between idyll and magic, and horrors we can only imagine.

This book isn’t one bit easy to read but if you’re concerned about women’s rights or current events, it’s essential that you do. But beware: Inside an Honor Killing will stun you almost the minute you get it in your hands.▼

Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was three years old and never goes anywhere without a book. Always Overbooked, she lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 15,000 books.

‹ May 17, 2019 - CAMP Arts by Doug Yetter up May 17, 2019 - CAMP Dates May 17 - July 4 ›

Past Issues

Issues Index

  • November 15, 2019 - Issue Index
  • October 18, 2019 - Issue Index
  • September 20, 2019 - Issue Index
  • August 23, 2019 - Issue Index
  • August 9, 2019 - Issue Index
  • July 26, 2019 - Issue Index
  • July 12, 2019 - Issue Index
  • June 28, 2019 - Issue Index
  • June 14, 2019 - Issue Index
  • May 31, 2019 - Issue Index
  • May 17, 2019 - Issue Index
    • May 17, 2019 - Cover-to-cover with ISSUU
    • May 17, 2019 - The Way I See It by Murray Archibald
    • May 17, 2019 - In Brief
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMP Matters by Murray Archibald
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMP Out by Fay Jacobs
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMP News
    • May 17, 2019 - President's View by Chris Beagle
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMP Round Up- Entertainment
    • May 17, 2019 - Straight Talk by David Garrett
    • May 17, 2019 - The Real Dirt by Eric W. Wahl
    • May 17, 2019 - Health and Wellness by Marj Shannon
    • May 17, 2019 - Volunteer Spotlight - Neil Frock
    • May 17, 2019 - Beach Times 101
    • May 17, 2019 - It's My Life by Michael Thomas Ford
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMP Cheers!
    • May 17, 2019 - Eating OUT by Fay Jacobs
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMP Critters
    • May 17, 2019 - Intentionally Inclusive by Wesley Combs
    • May 17, 2019 - Out & Proud by Stefani Deoul
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMP Stories
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMP Feature
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMPshots Gallery 1
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMPshots Gallery 2
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMPshots Gallery 3
    • May 17, 2019 - Out & About by Eric C. Peterson
    • May 17, 2019 - Community News
    • May 17, 2019 - Artist Spotlight
    • May 17, 2019 - Deep Inside Hollywood by Romeo San Vicente
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMP Arts by Doug Yetter
    • May 17, 2019 - Booked Solid by Terri Schlichenmeyer
    • May 17, 2019 - CAMP Dates May 17 - July 4
  • May 3, 2019 - Issue Index
  • April 12, 2019 - Issue Index
  • March 8, 2019 - Issue Index
  • February 8, 2019 - Issue Index

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