Will not make you feel good - but will make you feel blessed | A Thousand Splendid Suns

Informative look at life for women in Afghanistan's current history | A Thousand Splendid Suns | Khaled Hosseini

books:


	• A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini Riverhead, 2007 - 372 pages average customer review:based on 1295 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

"Every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief"

I absolutely loved _The Kite Runner_, and therefore was hesitant to read _A Thousand Splendid Suns_, for fears of it falling short of the expectations I have for Hosseini. I was so very wrong. _A Thousand Splendid Suns_ is magnificent. It is bitter-sweet, to be sure; as Hosseini writes towards the end of the novel, "Every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief." Through the characters of Miriam and Laila we vicariously experience an Afghan story. You will be moved.

Admittedly the first third of the book is a challenge - readers first meet Mariam, a young Afghan girl who lives in the contryside. Mariam's life is one of hardship, abuse and toil, with only fleeting moments of joy that are quickly destroyed. Having introduced this character, Hosseini then seemilgly drops Mariam and introduces Laila, a Afghani girl who lives in Kabul - her childhood experiences are worlds away from Mariam's. Be patient - the investment made in developing these characters is returned several times over as the stories of these two different women intertwine and unfold.

As Afghanistan is first invaded by the Soviets, then plunged into civil war before the ascension of the Taliban, these two very different women find they have much in common: death, loss, grief - but also an astonishing capability to endure, survive and find solace and comfort in each other. Hosseini does such a masterful job of developing these characters that, at times, it is difficult to go on reading, given the emotional attatchment you have to them.

Life in Hosseini's Afghanistan is brutal, unjust and chaotic. His characters, however, are beautiful. I regret not reading it sooner. Very highly recommended.

for more information click here

Will not make you feel good - but will make you feel blessed

I found it to be a heartbreaking book - an eye opening book as well. The fact that the book is set in recent years made it more heartbreaking as well as realistic. It was hard for me to read the parts where Rasheed abused the women. It angered me greatly.

I think the book was quite stark and harsh - yet honest. I'm glad I read it. We, here in the US, know nothing of the sort of things portrayed in the book and it was hard to put myself in that place. It also made me think of my freedom and how there is no one to control me, no one to tell me I must cover myself in a burqua. I find it unimaginable to have to live that way.

I didn't close the book with a "feel-good" air. I closed the book and sighed. I think many would benefit from reading the book - it lets you know that there is very much more to this world than yourself and that you should count your blessings every day. It also lets you know that your life can change in an instant and that the world you think you should have isn't necessarily the world you'll get.

-Gatlianne

for more information click here

Informative look at life for women in Afghanistan's current history

All I can say is wow. What the two women went through in this book is incredible, and to remain so strong through it all.
I knew that life was not pleasant for women in previous years in Afghanistan, but the cruelty of what they went through was just mind altering. Through the story of Miriam and Laila, we see the injustices that women suffered under the Taliban regime. All of it was with the "approval" of the government. Beating and torchering women behind closed doors was a fact of life for many, and how Miriam and Laila stayed so strong through it all gives real hope of endurance in rough times. I guess the best way to describe it is they just had to survive and did what they could to accomplish this day by day.
You will not regret picking this one up. At times it can be a raw and brutal account of punishments that women went through, but the story teaches a lesson of endurance during hard times.

for more information click here

Better than Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini's second novel proves that he is here to stay. I thought Suns was even better than Kite Runner. A Thousand Splendid Suns was a very well-written, engrossing, page turner which provides the reader a nice glimpse of the history and culture of Afganistan. Overall, Hosseini has a big formula for both writing and reading success.

My problem with the Kite Runner was that I thought the first third of the novel was SUPERB and the last two-thirds were a let-down. Here again, with A Thousand Splendid Suns, there is a split. The first three-quarters, FANTASTIC, the last quarter, just so-so. For me the book could have ended once Rasheed got his come-uppance. That was all I was really waiting for.

The story revolves around the characters of two women: Mariam and Laila, their childhoods and their ultimate and unlikely shared marriage to the bully Rasheed. The women's characters, and the characters of the men they loved (Mariam's father and for Laila, Tariq) were very well-developed. Husband, Rasheed's character, was not developed at all. I guess it was no matter since we obviously were not supposed to like him anyway. It was a story of lost and found love, fear, and the struggle for survival amid a war-torn, confusing society where it seems anything oppressive, goes. My favorite part was the quiet but airtight bond that developed between Mariam and Laila in the face of calamity.

for more information click here