Librarian reads and reviews

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini

Bloomsbury

ISBN978-0-7475-8297-7

The sufferings of a land with a great tradition, the pathos of the women in a land of continuous clashes and fighting… the novel “A Thousand Splendid Suns” depict a lot more than that. Afghanistan has been the cradle and playground for war lords, sometimes from the neighboring countries, otherwise from the interiors. In these chaotic perils there were the women who lived within the wall, behind the screens and within the clutches of religious coverings, holding the misfortunes of a birth. No need to say about the status of women in a male dominated society. In the name of god and in the name of religion the segregated lot suffered.

“A Thousand Splendid Suns” portrays the story of two women – Mariam and Laila.. Mariam by birth itself was a ‘harami’ because of none of her mistakes. She was only fifteen when she was married to Rasheed, who was thirty years elder than her. After some twenty years, the other girl Laila was smacked with tragedy. She had to join Mariam as another wife of Rasheed. Even though they finds it difficult to be together in the beginnings, they find consolation each other, then a relationship grows just like that between two sisters or that between a mother and her daughter.

Along with the story the political changes in the country and the death and destruction happening in the country are ornately drawn by Hosseini. The enthusiasm of the author in the description of details gradually recedes when we gradually reach the end of the novel. The author gives the impression of himself in a haste to wind up.

However it is an unforgettable picture of a country which is subjected to a lot of destruction even in the 20^th century. It also portrays the women’s endurance being tested beyond their worst imaginations. Yes, we have to read this novel to know what Afghanistan was… to an extent what it is now.