A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
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Book Reviews of A Thousand Splendid Suns
Book Review: A beautiful tale of love, friendship, and sacrifice.
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't know why I decided to read this novel. It is not a genre or a storyline that would initially attract me. Why I ended up deciding to read it, I have not the faintest clue. However - once I did, I could not put this phenomenal novel down and finished it in less than 24 hours. Hosseini paints a brilliant picture of life in war-torn Afghanistan- a life I never would have imagined or could relate to. Quickly you find yourself caring very deeply for these characters and hoping that somehow, someday - they will find happiness and safety in their own homes.
The story begins with a young Miriam, a "bastard child" hidden away in her father's life like a shameful secret. Her mother, depressed by the life handed to her, treats Miriam like disease - showering her with guilt, obscenities, and fear. Miriam understands that she has no one to love her, but young and naive, she has all the love in the world to give and searches for that love within her father. But - is this search for love worth it?
We are introduced into the polygamous life of Afghanistan families, the shame women must live in by showing their eyes only to their husband (even though he can show his eyes to as many women as he shall wish) and the fear women live with on a daily basis. The struggles to survive, to love, and to learn while having no independence or free will to do so.
Further in the story we are introduced to a younger character, Laila - who is growing up in the midst of a changing world and life in Afghanistan. These two women come together in unfortunate circumstances and develop a friendship based on mutual respect, and the eagerness to love - and the want of survival.
I found this novel incredibly deep and touching. I don't believe I ever even remotely understood how bad it is over in Afghanistan until I read this book, which I feel is somewhat of an insight into the lives so different from our very own. Having decided to pick up this novel and read was probably one of the best choices I have made this week.
Book Review: No Sophomore Slump Here!
Summary: 4 Stars
"Seasons had come and gone; presidents in Kabul had been inaugurated and murdered; an empire had been defeated; old wars had ended and new ones had broken out. But Mariam had hardly noticed, hardly cared. She had passed these years in a distant corner of her mind. A dry, barren field, out beyond wish and lament, beyond dream and disillusionment. There, the future did not matter. And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion. And whenever those twin poisonous flowers began to sprout in the parched land of that field, Mariam uprooted them. She uprooted them and ditched them before they took hold."
I don't want to be presumptuous. I don't want project my own ignorance on whomever stumbles upon this post. So, I will only say that, as a well-read, well-informed citizen, I thought I knew, if not all the details, at least the gist of the situation in Afghanistan. I watch Anderson Cooper. I saw Charlie Wilson's War. But this book offers a timely perspective on a war that had been going on long before we got involved, a war many Americans don't realize we are still fighting.
Set primarily in Kabul, A Thousand Splendid Suns spans 30 years of Afghan history, following the unlikely friendship between two very different women, Mariam and Laila, brought together by mutual fear, grief and pure necessity.
What I found most striking about this book was the lack of sanctuary. Mariam and Laila live in an Islamic world, but even surrounded by prayer and mosques, they have no peace and no rest. Not only do they live in a war-torn country, where at any moment a bomb could fall on their home or a sniper could use them as target practice, the women are married to an abusive husband who takes out his anger, frustration, even bordem on his wives.
The story is at once foreign and familiar, as it explores not only how much one person can endure, but also the meaning of home when your country has been destroyed by decades of war.
Book Review: Wives in common
Summary: 3 Stars
Khalid Hosseini's A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS isn't a bad novel by any means, and it remains fairly engrossing despite the predictability of its outcome; yet its popularity seems to stem mostly from the fact that it plucks any number of familiar notes international readers seem to want to hear. The follow-up to Hosseini's equally insanely popular THE KITE RUNNER, this novel tells the story of two women--Mariam, born in 1959, and Laila born twenty years later during the Soviet invasion--in Afghanistan, particularly during the governmental instability and wars of the last thirty years. Mariam is born the illegitimate and hidden daughter of a wealthy Herat cinema owner, and is married by her family to a poor Kabul shoemaker to keep her away from them; Laila lives near Mariam, the bourgeois daughter of a teacher forced to work for the state after the Societ takeover. Eventually the two women are forced by some pretty unlikely circumstances into having much more in common than either might have expected. Everything seems pretty much set up like clockwork and you can predict many of the supposed surprises of fate from miles away: big plans to escape bad circumstances almost always end in disaster, and you sometimes see drama coming from miles away (the locking up of Laila's second child Zalmai in his room before the novel's big climax to ensure he can have a relatively untortured relationship to its survivors is just one of the many contrivances that gives far too much away). Laila and her monopedal dreamboat childhood sweetheart Tariq seem fairly flat and unsurprising; Hosseini fares much better with the long-faced, long-suffering Mariam and her initial portrayal of her husband Rasheed (who becomes too much of a stereotypical unredeemable brute as the novel progresses). The portrait of life under the Soviet puppet regime, the warlords, and (particularly) the Taliban are the most exceptional things in the novel, and does much to alleviate the clockwork predictability of the character drama.Book Review: A Moving Tale
Summary: 4 Stars
Khaled Hosseini is certainly a splendid novelist. In this gripping tale, he masterfully weaves history, culture, struggle-for-life and engulfing emotion to create an unforgettable experience. The novel literally transports the reader through the last 50 years of Afghan history, a world many never thought existed. Reading this book, one can't help a surging feeling of compassion and empathy for the agony and downright misery the people of Afghanistan had to endure for decades.
The story is about two Afghan women. The scene starts in the world of our first heroine; Mariam and follows her from birth till marriage to a much older Rasheed. The storyline then moves to the world of the second and slightly more fortunate heroine, Laila and follows her from childhood till marriage to the same but now much older Rasheed. Now that both heroines are under one roof, the story follows their deeply moving struggle under the oppression and cruelty of Rasheed. I leave the rest to you to find out!
A word of warning is in order: the oppressive decrees of the Taliban extremists should not be confused with the noble teachings of Islam. Surprisingly, they are often different even contradicting. The dissimilarity is most pronounced when it comes to knowledge, art and the status of women. This is not the place to bring up the discussion but I will take the liberty of giving three examples to clarify the point. The Taliban destroyed the ancient statues whereas Muslims ruled over Egypt, Syria and Iraq for over a thousand years and none of their ancient heritage was scathed. The Taliban hindered education and burned books where as the Early Muslim cities were the pinnacle of knowledge of the middle ages. Finally, women had no place under the Taliban regime but they played an essential role throughout the history of Islam, quoting Hosseini (who is quoting queen Soraya) "Women should also take their place [in Afghanistan] as women did in the early days of Islam".
Book Review: A look into daily Afghan life
Summary: 5 Stars
Khaled Hosseini follows his best-selling debut novel "The Kite Runner" The Kite Runner with a sequel that is every bit as splendid as the title suggests. The tone is set early: this is a story about the hardships women face in Afghanistan. Mariam is the daughter of a well-to-do man. Her mother had ended her own life, and Mariam feels a great shame about her life...is married-off to a much older man named Rasheed. Rasheed believes women are the property of their husbands and forces Mariam into a degrading life. This causes the young lady to live a fearful existence...for his temper can result in punches, slaps, and kicks...only to be followed by insincere apologies.
Laila is the second heroine in the story - she becomes Rasheed's second wife. Her life, though a bit brighter, also finds sudden tragedy. She was raised by an intellect who encouraged Laila to follow her dreams. One day, a wayward rocket fired by a warring faction lands on her house and kills her parents. Tariq, her boyfriend, had fled with his family only to become refugees in Pakistan. So now poor Laila, who once had a promising life, finds herself alone. When she discovers she is pregnant with Tariq's child and learns Tariq has been killed (supposedly) near the Pakistani border, she agrees to marry Rasheed.
Once Laila and Rasheed get married, Mariam becomes jealous of Laila, that is, until Aziza )Laila's child) is born. Mariam eventually becomes a second mother to Aziza, and the two woman become friends...and later allies, protecting each other from the abuse suffered by Rasheed. Some have mentioned that this book starts slow...and yes, it does. But eventually Khaled Hosseini's impeccable writing talent shines through and the emotions these two women must tolerate makes the reader forget about the early flaws. His ability to convey daily life for women in this harsh reality is something truly special and evident as to why Mr. Hosseini is a well-renowned author.