A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
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Book Reviews of A Thousand Splendid Suns
Book Review: Love, Friendship, and Hope
Summary: 5 Stars
I have no idea why I waited so long to read this book. I have a tendency to avoid things that are too popular at a time, as this book did. But now, a few years later, after reading this, I can appreciate why it was so popular.
The book is about two women in Afghanistan who lead different lives until they met. Not only do we see the devastations war has wrought in the country, but we also see into the lives of those who suffered through it all. The people who were lucky to survive but at the same time losing all those they cared for. The friendship these two women develop is nothing short of amazing. It reminds me that while not everything in this life can have a happy ending, that there is always hope, and we as humans have the strength to live through the hardest adversities life can throw at us.
Hosseini's writing is simple, yet very catching. The end of the book definitely made me shed tears and sniffles. It was hard not to cry as I read this book. After I read the book, I felt like my emotions have been drained dry. I'd love to read this book again, but I don't think I can even muster enough strength to read this again. But maybe, sometime in the future, I will pick this up again, and enjoy it as thoroughly as I did this time around.
Book Review: A Thousand Splending Suns is enchanting
Summary: 5 Stars
I had to read the Kite Runner for an english class. At first I was quite wary of it, having gotten negative reviews from a friend who had read it previously. She thought it was very depressing, but personally, I found it fascinating. A Thousand Splending Suns lives up the Kite Runner's stellar reputation and perhaps even surpasses it. I loved how the book follows the stories of two women (their lives then collide and tie everything up beautifully), maybe I am biased for being a woman myself. I was amazed that a man could have that kind of insight into the female mind. I could relate to both of them -Despite not being a muslim woman, or having a lot of knowledge on their culture and beliefs. I found their characters real and interesting. Mariam and Laila, who although are opposites and have been raised very differently complement each other just so, to make the story really hook you in. Hosseini has a way of creating characters by building them out of details and specific anecdotes that truly captivated me. This book was a window into a whole world I've sadly just looked over and dismissed. Over all, this book was just very interesting. I finished it in a couple of days, and was very sad to see it end. I am anxiously awaiting Hosseini's next masterpiece.Book Review: Not for the Faint of Heart
Summary: 5 Stars
At times this was so grim I had to put it down, skim or just blot it out. Sadder than the story is that, I presume, it mirrors the reality of this time in Afghanistan.
Years ago I read The Bookseller of Kabul. Like Rasheed, the Bookseller feels that he is a coveted husband. Given the poverty and the ability of both these real and fictional men to scrape out a living and the denial of education and employment opportunities for women there is a sad truth to their boasts. Unfortunately for the happiness of their families and society at large, their values perpetuate the attitudes that keep the country violent and poor.
Khaled Hosseini, through his portrait of Raheed's relationship with his son and daughter shows how boys develop self importance and dehumanize the women who have no alternative but to sacrifice for them.
Besides its depiction of violence to women, the book describes what it was like to live in Kabul through the wider violence of the times. One cannot help but conclude that the warlords, the Taliban and the varied political factions have taken the lessons of their homes into society.
Book Review: Haunting; Disturbing; Visceral; Sincere; Perfect!
Summary: 5 Stars
I misguidedly put this novel on the back burner because, while I liked The Kite Runner, I found the coincidences too difficult to take plausibly. With A Thousand Splendid Suns, however, Hosseini has come into his own as a writer and he has created what I can only call a perfect novel. This story had me enraptured from the first page to the last and not since Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone has a male author so authentically and genuinely captured the female heart and mind.
When I pick up a novel, I want to be moved, disturbed, touched, enlightened and educated. It is often asking too much, but this text delivers in a huge way and I will, without question, read this book again and again in future years. It is the best book I have read in about five years. Now, I wait with breathless anticipation for Hosseini to write another novel.
Simply put, I did not want this story to end. And when it did, I found myself a little saddened by it (though the novel is wholly satisfying). If you are on the fence about whether or not to read this book, make the choice to read it. A good book entertains, a great book shows us a way to view the world in a different light. A Thousand Splendid Suns is a great book--a phenomenal book. Period.
Book Review: Yuck
Summary: 1 Stars
If you want another dose of depressing insight into the vicious dwarfed society produced by the butthole of the world this book is for you! Afghanistan fills stadiums with people who watch women stoned for adultery and limbs cut off for lesser crimes. People are killed for converting from Islam to another religion, or for being an atheist.
If there is a lesson from this fictional tale it may be that there are no heros in Afganistan, just hate built upon generations of hate; no generosity just unrelenting hate as the motivating principal.
The book is set during the last part of the Russian invasion and the years after their withdrawal. One of the characters tells his daughter that because of the Russians it is a good time to be a woman in Afganistan. I think that US Senator Charlie Wilson made a mistake in arming the Afgans and foreign fighters against the Russians. It seems they would have been far better off in accepting a worthless communist government than continuing as they have.
A better book than this one about how women are treated in Islam is "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. It is a factual account of her upbringing in Islam and her escape from its oppression to the west.