I finished the book ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini’ a few weeks ago now. I must say that it is one of my favourite books of all time…if you haven’t read it, make sure you go out and buy it/borrow it! Its nature is riveting, it takes you to Afghanistan to feel and experience the emotions of two young women.
It is set amidst Afghanistan’s last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to the post-Taliban rebuilding. It attempts to show the fallout that Afghanistan’s violent history has had on a handful of individuals. I don’t want to give too much away because I believe it is one of those few books you will read from cover to cover.
Let me reassure you, it is no long lament, it is a story of bravery and triumph of human spirit over adversity. Hosseini is a master of story-telling, of capturing and writing realisticly. Being a reader of most of Hosseini’s novels, one learns quite a lot about Afghan society and culture, and perhaps about Afghan personality and ethics. This I say, considering his stories are well informed and based on what well and truly could be real life stories simply written as a fiction novel.
I wish that it did not represent what I believe could easily be true of the horrors of Afghan society and culture. It is not a book of happy endings for the faint hearted but a story of a beautiful country in terrible circumstances.
“She thought of her entry into this world, the harami child of a lowly villager, an unintended thing, a pitiable, regrettable accident. A weed. And yet she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and been loved back. She was leaving it as a friend, a companion, a guardian. A mother. “
Posted by ladymelbourne 
