REVIEWS

Book details Afghani women’s struggle and strength

A Thousand Splendid Suns by:Khaled Hosseini Riverhead Hardcover; 1 edition (May 22, 2007) ISBN-10: 1594489505

This book by Khaled Hosseini reads like a Rumi poem; no author captures the soul like Hosseini.

The story is about women. Friendship. Brutality. War. Love.

When you open to the first pages, you are thrown into Mariam’s world; she is a harami, an illegitimate child. This word that spews from her mother’s lips lash out and the sting of that slap across Mariam’s face would last a lifetime. She also learns one day the harsh reality of being a harami when she visits her father, and he does not invite her to cross the threshold of his home. She spends the night on his steps, and in the morning is driven to her home. It is there that she is greeted with a whole new horror.

Mariam ends up being married off to an older man, Rasheed with whom she manages an tension-filled and uneasy life.

As you continue to read, you are introduced to Mariam’s neighbor, Laila. She is loved and adored by her mother and her father. She goes to school. Has a best friend, Tariq. Life is great for Laila until one day, a bomb rips apart her home and shatters her foundation. Both her parents are killed and Tariq has left. But she is not completely alone. Very soon, the lives of Laila, Rasheed and Mariam become intertwined much more closely. The women’s past is not relevant. It is their survival from Rasheed’s violent rages that becomes important, and it is their survival that ultimately brings the women together.

As you read their harrowing tale, you may wonder where Allah is, while the women are brutalized and beaten emotionally, spiritually, and physically. But as you read about Laila’s and Mariam’s courage, you realize that he resides inside both their hearts and soul; there is divine intervention.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a riveting story about two women who walk on separate paths and whose paths cross in a highly uncomfortable way. It is about two women who help each other courageously until one makes a heart wrenching sacrifice.

Brace yourself for an emotional ride from cover to cover.