Book Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns recently celebrated its ten-year publication date in May of 2017. This book is not a new release, but an important book, especially for women, to read. This novel follows the lives of two female protagonists, Mariam and Laila, and their lives and roles as women in Taliban occupied Afghanistan. The book goes into deep, personal depth of the unjust and cruel treatment of women, the suffering and discrimination that took place on women, and the abuse and violence they were forced to endure.
The author, Khaled Hosseini, does not gloss over on the brutality and wickedness; he tells it how it is. Hosseini’s writing is beautiful and has a sense of realness to it that made me feel as if I actually know the characters and were hearing Mariam and Laila tell it to me face-to-face. It made me come to love and care and sympathize with the two characters. I did not want to stop reading because I had to know if they were going to be okay. But the story also perfectly describes a deep maternal/sisterly love between Mariam and Laila that is so pure and wondrous among the hate that is constantly surrounded by them and their homes.
A Thousand Splendid Suns allows readers to fully comprehend of how women in foreign countries are being treated, and continue to be treated to this day. It brings about awareness and reality to people who might have not known what was taking place. Hosseini explains the life of women during a time where they had limited, if any, rights. From being a child born out of wedlock, child marriages, to women being forced to wear a burqa by their controlling husbands.
It is a beautiful story of life. And this book reminds me of what a previous English Literature teacher once told me, that if a book did not make you cry and feel a mix rays of emotion it was not a good book.