For what did I know?

Burned Alive: A Victim of the Laws of Men details the life of a young woman growing up in the West Bank. Her village is one where it is normal for men to beat women for small infractions like coming home late from the fields. Unfortunately, Souad has a rendezvous with a man who at one point expressed his desire to marry her. She became pregnant, marring her family’s honour. There was only one reasonable solution for her crime: death. Her parents enlisted the help of her brother-in-law and he set forth to kill Souad. Somehow he butchered the assault, which resulted in Souad being covered in burns.

Now, this book is a result of recovered memory. Souad repressed the events of her past for many years which has resulted in a myriad of inconsistencies. Unfortunately, this has paved the way for people to deem this book a work of fiction. That has become a major focus. Instead of people looking at the story and acknowledging that this is an event that happens on a daily basis, an event where the perpetrator is revered and protected by law, people are debating whether or not the story is true. If you ask me, it does not matter if all the details are correct. If anything, it makes the story more compelling. This woman has suppressed her memories to such an extent that she does not many things about her past life in Palestine.

Despite the controversy surrounding this book, honour killings are a sad reality. Thousands of women are killed in horrific manners every year for actions that we take for granted in the west. This book very well could have been a true story, just move around some of the finer details and you have the horrific reality of far too many people, the debate over whether or not this story is fact or fiction should not take away from that.