Hosseini: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Hosseini: A Thousand Splendid Suns
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.
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Some harrowing descriptions of how the female characters are treated are contrasted with more poetic passages about the landscape and culture of Afghanistan.
Fabulous fabulous, the story has remained with me. A wonderful illustration and description of a culture going through a terrible time, and the relationships and compromises people have to make in order to survive.It was harrowing and upsetting as with ‘The Kite Runner’but reflects a truth and reality in some people’s lives.
I read the book quickly as I found it hard to put down and will re-read it again in the future.
I agree with everything Irene says. The harsh reality of life in Afghanistan brought to the page vivdly by Khaled Hosseini. I found the book deeply moving and couldn’t help contrast the kind of life the women in this novel lead to the life that my daughter, my sister and I lead. How lucky we are!
If you haven’t read this book yet, please do, and keep the tissues handy