A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Reading level: Adult

Publisher: Penguin Group

Rated 10/10

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years -- from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding -- that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives -- the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness -- are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heartwrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love -- a stunning accomplishment

MY REVIEW
I LOVE THIS BOOK! After reading The Kite Runner you would think you couldn't do any better, Khaled Hosseini has proven that wrong. Khaled Hosseini has a way with playing with human emotions very well with his characters. I cried when Mariam found out the hard truth about her father, I cried when Laila left her daughter at the orphange, I cried because the way women were treated in this book and in real life in Afghanistan. It took me less then a day to read this book, I literally couldn't tear myself away from it. Most books I read are all too predictable, I couldn't guess what was gonna happen next in this book. His characters feel all too real to me and you feel for them. I would suggest this book to anyone looking for a good read, it's one of those books you will be thinking about long after reading. Also this book teaches a lot about Afghanistan, it's culture, and history. Since reading The Kite Runner and this book I'm more aware of what has and is happening there. This book also makes me happy to live the life I happen to live because I know some women will never get that chance.

This book is about Mariam and Laila, two women married to the same man. Mariam was born a harami, a bastard, between a wealthy man and his servant. Mariam is raised by her mother and worships her father. Mariam's mother has nothing good to say about her father and Mariam learns the hard way what her father really thinks about her. Soon after her father marries her off to a shoemaker, Rasheed, and she moves to Kabul to live with him. Laila was born and raised in Kabul by her parents. She lives a life where women are free to go to school and work during the time of Communists. She constantly lives in the shadow of her two older brothers who are off fighting the Communists. Laila is best friends with Tariq, but when they  get older feelings start to develop between them. But things go very wrong and Laila loses everyone she loves. Saved by Rasheed and harboring a secret she marries him. At first Mariam and Laila don't get along with each other, Mariam thinks the much younger Laila wants her to be her servant and steal her husband away. But Rasheed's cruelty brings them together and Mariam thinks of Laila as the daughter she never had and would do anything to protect her.