A Thousand Splendid Suns

1496 Words3 Pages

“Joseph shall return to Canaan, grieve not, Hovels shall turn to rose gardens, grieve not. If a flood should arrive, to drown all that’s alive, Noah is your guide in the typhoon’s eye, grieve not (Hosseini 365).” A Thousand Splendid Suns, written by Khaled Hosseini, is a story that is set place in modern-day Afghanistan. It is one depicting the lives of two particular women who live under the control of a persecuting husband and the infamous rule of the Taliban. And through these two women (Laila and Mariam), Hosseini creates a mind-blowing, awe-inspiring adventure of regret, despair, tragedy, and more importantly, redemption. The book begins with separate perspectives of each woman, and how they consequently come together in the same household. Mariam, to start with, is actually a result of the shameful act that her father, Jalil Khan, a wealthy business man of Herat, committed when he impregnated one of his servants. As a result of this, Mariam was forced to live in the countryside with her mother, Nana (who committed suicide), and eventually forced into marriage as a teen to a man by the name of Rasheed. Secondly, Laila is a young girl whose family background is not the best: her parents are always fighting and her brothers, whom she hardly remembers are at war with the Soviets. Despite the hard life that she is forced to live, she always seems to find solace in her lover, Tariq. Nonetheless, when the Taliban finally come into power, her parents soon become victim to the violent bombings of Kabul, and immediately, she is orphaned. Then, as if by chance or luck, Rasheed finds Laila and digs her out of the rubble and eventually marries her. As Mariam and Laila form a mutual bond and lasting friendship, each soon realizes the ange...

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...ented in a purposeful, realistic manner, but it also shed some light on the real Afghani culture. Khaled Hosseini is a master at catching the reader’s attention right from the get-go, and in the end, leaving him wanting some more. From reading this story, I got to see Afghanistan from the female perspective, rather than the male perspective in Hosseini’s other book, The Kite Runner. It certainly was a joy to read; however, the story was slow at times, yet intense at others. Overall, I would recommend this book to other people, not just because it was a great story, but also because it gives the reader a certain sense of awareness for the violence that is really happening in Afghanistan right this second. To some, Afghanistan may seem like a country laden with war-torn violence and destruction, but to others, it is a country that shines in its own, true beauty.

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