A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini – Book Review

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged a book review. Just a few days ago, we were hit by a typhoon. There was no electricity and cellphone signal for days so I was able to finish five books and one of those is A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

I got his book in a book sale. I got interested to have a copy of this after I finished reading Hosseini’s first novel The Kite Runner.

You can get your copy using the link below:

A Thousand Splendid Suns Overview:

Spoiler Alert:

Published by: Riverhead Trade
Release Date: November 25, 2008
Pages: 432
ISBN13: 978-1594483851

Overview

After 103 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and with four million copies of The Kite Runner shipped, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today.

Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them—in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul—they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman’s love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.

A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.

~ https://khaledhosseini.com/books/a-thousand-splendid-suns/

READING EXPERIENCE:

I came across this novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns through The Kite Runner. I cried a lot during his first book and I am so excited to be moved again by this second book of Hosseini.

The novel is set in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation to the Taliban control where there’s war, domestic abuse, and Afghan women’s oppression. The story is divided into four parts.

Part one is all about the life of the protagonist named Mariam. She is his father’s daughter to a maid and was sent away with his mother. She was always visited by his father but still longed for the feeling of living under one roof with his father and half-siblings. One day, she went to his father’s house but was not welcomed. That led to a series of events. Her mother’s death, her being sent off to marry an older guy by her father’s wives. She went through a lot of hardships.

Part two introduces the second protagonist named Laila who at that time was a young child and lived just across from where Miriam and her husband Rasheed lived. This was the time when the war started. Her childhood friend and the love of her life Tariq left their place for the safety of his parents. Her family died during this time – living her alone.

Part three was when Laila woke up from being injured in an explosion that killed her parents. Mariam and her husband took care of her. At first, I thought, Rasheed will be a new father figure to the young Laila but no – he made her his second wife. Mariam and Laila went through an abusive Rasheed. They plan to escape but it wasn’t easy. Mariam unintentionally killed Rasheed in a fight to save their lives. She encouraged Laila to escape leaving her behind. Because of that event, Mariam went to prison and was executed.

Part four was Laila’s life after. She love Mariam and was grateful for all. Including this second life that she has.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is an amazing book. Simple writing style but is very touching. The novel is a story of hope and heroism. Two strong women, their braveness, and their journey to happiness.

The book doesn’t just leave me crying but also made me appreciate life and be thankful. Women nowadays are being heard. We have the right to speak now and be someone we wanted us to be. It is very different from what the early women experienced.

Mariam’s sacrifice for Laila was heartwarming. It really showed that you don’t need to be blood-related to love someone as a family. This kind of love is also powerful.

At first, I felt unfair for Mariam. She went through tough times in her young days until her married life and the ending she had in this novel is something I wanted to change. But Mariam already said that she doesn’t regret anything she did for Laila. She loves her dearly as a daughter.

This book is an eye-opener that this is a reality for a lot of people. The story is so captivating with more than 400 pages. I would say that after reading, I was attached to the protagonist. Mariam and Laila mirror the strength of two different women with different backgrounds.

Inspirational, and outstanding, every man and woman must read this tale.

You might want to read: At First Sight Book Review – Nicholas Sparks