A Thousand Splendid Suns Hardcover – May 22, 2007

This was a wonderful story. The characters introduced were strong brave souls that have inspired me to love life everyday, even under cloudy skies.

The author writes beautifully, telling a powerful story…however, the story involves the horrors of Afghan life….it seems nothing can be worse.

I read this book years ago and found it again. The storytelling is incredible even though the subject matter is difficult.

Bought the book today and finished it today. Beautiful beautiful book. I cried and cried and cried so many times because I’m really really emotional (haha) but maaaan this book hurt me so bad. 10/10.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's beautifully written. Full of real life emotions and characters. Loved the ending too.

I remember the first time I've ever picked up a book by Khaled Hosseini.It was during my sophomore year, and my teacher decided to select The Kite Runner as the book for the class to read. I was utterly thrilled by The Kite Runner as well as devastated because of the clandestine that was hidden from Amir regarding Hassan, the way Assef had treated Hassan in the past and then his son in the same exact manner during the present where luckily, Amir goes back to Kabul and saves the poor child from Assef's wrath.But however, this book is way better than The Kite Runner. This book has made my cry so many times, it's quite unbelievable. This is without a doubt- the best book I've ever read in my whole life! No joke. This book made me feel immensely aggravated and happy at the same exact time. It made me feel immensely aggravated because of the negative treatment of girls and women in Afghanistan and because of the constant hardships and all forms of abuse Mariam, the protagonist had to face from her childhood up until the moment of her death. Mariam had so many hopes and dreams as a child, but unfortunately all these hopes and dreams were crushed by her father Jalil as he gave her away to a misogynistic/sexist forty year old man Rasheed, after her mother committed suicide. Mariam used to live with her mother Nana in a peaceful village near the city Herat. Jalil provided money and food to Mariam and Nana each month. Mariam was the product of an affair between the servant of Jalil's home which was Nana and Jalil. Therefore, she was portrayed as a bastard, or a harami by the Afghan society and mostly by Nana.Nana didn't like idea of Mariam chit chatting with Jalil, and she warned Mariam of him. Nana promised Mariam that one day, she would surely come to see the real face and nature of Jalil. And when this finally would take place, she wouldn't be there to protect her. Finally during her 15th birthday, she abandoned Nana because of Jalil and visited the world outside her home. Therefore, Nana committed suicide. Nana incessantly warned Mariam of the world outside her home in the past. She told her, the outside world was cold, cruel, and bitter. But still, Mariam did not listen nor concur with her. Instead, she wholeheartedly believed in all the false hopes and utter lies which Jalil provided and reassured her with.Jalil and his three wives gave Mariam away because of the dishonor he would come to face from others for keeping a bastard child, a harami in his home. He was a wealthy man. His social status was mandatory to him, not Mariam. Mariam wanted to attend college, gain education and knowledge just as Rasheed's two other daughters. She had hopes and dreams surprisingly, even after the death of her own mother.Mariam was physically tortured by Rasheed almost every single day and every single moment of her life. She grew more and more vulnerable by each day and sadly, she couldn't do anything to defend herself against Rasheed's wrath until Laila was the victim of his abuse. Mariam finally gathered up her courage to stand up against Rasheed and give him the taste of his own medicine, once in for all which made me immensely happy although it brought permanent despair to Mariam...Mariam was executed by the Talibans at the end, but please don't let this intimidate you! Mariam was finally free from the cruel world which she lived in and her memory was preserved by Laila. In a way, Mariam became a part of Laila. Mariam was Laila's courage, Laila's bravery and her will to fight and stand up against all the odds in the world.Oh and also, did I mention that this book has amazing quotes? The quotes are utterly meaningful."At the time, Mariam did not understand. She did not know what this word harami-bastard—meant. Nor was she old enough to appreciate the injustice, to see that it is the creators of the harami who are culpable, not the harami, whose only sin is being born."I will never forget about this book, never. It'll always stay in my heart.

Khaled Hosseini tells a good story, eliciting empathy for both his female main characters while using the recent history of his native country as a backdrop that nourishes while educating his audience about a culture and place of which few have knowledge.Unlike his first novel, "The Kite Runner," "A Thousand Splendid Suns" does not depict an immigrant's journey from a troubled Afghanistan to the melting pot of America a la Elia Kazan's classic "America, America". Instead it focuses on two Afghan women who as contemporaries display vastly different vantage points in terms of their individual gender freedom.Mariam, reared as a harami (illegitimate child) in the smaller village of Herat, lives on the outskirts of town with her mother, fallen woman Nana who succumbed to the attractive Jalil, rich owner of the cinema, husband of three wives and father of nine legitimate children. As a harami, Mariam quickly learns that the world of Herat and her father's smaller privileged universe proffer her only the sad wisdom of rejection and endurance. Married off as a teenager to a 40-something-year-old shoemaker named Rasheed, she finds herself in the large city of Kabul where Rasheed's imposed dress code of the burqa in public becomes an oxymoron of sorts--a comforting form of anonymity after years of self-imposed insecurity and harami notoriety and a convenient cover up for the consequential markings of his anger when she cannot provide him with a child .Not so for Laila, Hosseini's second protagonist. Born in Kabul of educated parents, Laila's potential for success ranks her highly amongst her peers during the pro-woman Communist reign. Always encouraged to pursue her dreams, she finds that only her country's turbulent history encumbers her ambitions. After the Soviet Union's departure from Afghanistan and the mujahedeen infighting for control ensues, a stray rocket blast kills Laila's parents and through a stroke of ill-fate she becomes a member of Rasheed's household, alas her bright future eclipsed by the same dungeon of unenlightenment as that of the hapless Mariam.The beauty of Hosseini's tale comes in his ability to draw the reader into the lives of these two women. Although introduced with a certain amount of predictable melodrama that sweeps us along with the implacable rhythm of a 1970s television mini-series, by the time Laila and Mariam physically unite in Rasheed's household we are sold, living and breathing each and every trial and tribulation. Of these, there are plenty, Hosseini paints a cruel picture of Afghanistan's intolerance towards women during not only the Taliban era, but within the confines of their supposed sanctuary of home. Intensely, we experience the beatings these women routinely receive and cower instinctively as the Taliban patrol wanders the streets of Kabul seeking out stray women to disfigure.Shamelessly, Hosseini's technique relies on the interjection of improbable occurrences that add to the tension on the reader's heartstrings. This is nothing new in literature; Charles Dickens employs the same coincidental manipulations quite successfully in his classic serializations. However implausible, we are absorbed within the pages, reliving in nightmares some of the brutally repugnant scenes of blatant misogyny depicted so vividly in Hosseini's detailed account. We cringe and cry and await retribution. Like "The Tale of Two Cities," we are rewarded with a modern day execution where innocent love and unselfish sacrifice allow another's happiness and ultimately the irrepressible good triumph over the miserably evil.Bottom line? Khaled Hosseini writes well in the female perspective; his account of the fictional Mariam and Laila brings home the abject suffering of the senseless mistreatment of women in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. In the telling of their story, he links them with women all over the world through both the small and large events in their lives. Simultaneously, he educates his audience to the history of his native country, the differing racial factions and the indisputable effect of religion and culture on the larger terrain of the soul. Recommended.Diana Faillace Von Behren"reneofc"

I read this book not long after reading the Kite Runner. I think my expectations where too high. The Kite Runner was one of the best books I have read in a while. The story stayed with me for quite a while. That said a Thousand Splendid Suns was a well written book. It’s difficult to believe what the Afghanistan people have gone through. It’s well worth reading but I would advise reading it first and the Kite Runner second.

One of the best books I have ever read.This was independently recommended to me by a number of friends who are big readers. It is not the type of book I usually read as I don’t tend to read such sad books, but it was so ardently loved that I gave it a try.I really struggled to get into it in the beginning as I initially found it slow and upsetting. A few times I considered giving up on it, not through any fault of the writer, just that I tend to read different types of books. I have a full time job which is often emotionally heavy, so I prefer to avoid human suffering/tragedy type themes when reading for pleasure or watching films.I am so beyond glad that I continued on. This book is beyond spectacular. It is so beautifully written and the characters and story are so utterly powerful.Be warned, this book is very emotionally challenging. I could not put it down once I was beyond the first few chapters. It is amazingly well written and flows beautifully but the subject matter is just crushingly upsetting, while at the same time, there is such beauty and love in some of the relationships. The result was lots of tears and even sobbing at the end of the book. It left me bereft, and emotionally exhausted, but just blown away by how good the book is. I don’t see how anyone could fail to be moved and bowled over after reading this.I have been deliberately vague about the subject matter as I hate it when someone leaves a review which means you no longer need to read the book.All I can say is read it, you won’t regret it (but will in all probability have puffy eyes for a few days after!!!!).

It is rare that a male author can write so authentically about a woman’s experience and show an understanding of her inner life, but Hosseini Khaled has done that.The novel is set in Kabul and tells the story of two women, Mariam, an illegitimate and illiterate woman born in Herat, and Laila born into relative privilege and education in Kabul. While a generation separates them, they find their lives intertwined by the circumstances of war and their marriage to a brutal old man who is both their tormenter and their saviour, because without a husband, a woman could not survive. The bond that develops between them, honed by their mutual support and suffering, reminds me of the biblical story of Ruth and Naomi, so strong that even death cannot separate them.While the novel opened my eyes to how women in Afghanistan have suffered through war, brutality and the repressive and misogynistic regime of the Taliban, it is written so well and so poetically that what will remain in my memory is the beauty and strength of the relationship between the women..

Many a times, while reading this book, i felt a strong urge to stop reading this and delete it from the device as it was extremely heart wrenching, even to think of continuing this book. Whenever i paused reading, the distress annoyed me beyond what i could take. Whether it was the feeling of sympathy towards their life circumstances or was it the feeling of helplessness towards the unfair and brutal nature of the world that made me feel so annoyed and heavy-hearted, i do not know.But when i finished this book and kept it aside, a feeling of relaxation and peacefulness washed over me. War and Civil Wars, as we read and hear from media, sounds and feels very dreadful. But to live through and survive/suffer that is something one would never want to go through. You will live through those through the eyes of Mariam and Laila while reading this book.A humble and heartfelt ovation to the beautiful book and the writer.

Perhaps one of the most moving and heart wrenching books I have ever read, the story is compelling, sad, informative and a realistic account of the tragic lives of every day people in a foreign world and country.To think that this is a relatively modern day account of the way a women and children were treated and of how a man, husband and father could be non accountable for his cruelty and violence against his family is mind blowing. Personally it makes me feel so fortunate to have lived in the same era as these women but have as many privileges as a citizen as I have, with a direct link to an NHS system, legal rights and instant help and assistance from our emergency services and the opportunity to have had a free and comprehensive education. The book set in a world were these people were burdened with their lives from birth, just because they were born in the circumstances that were dominated by the total control of government, their family and tragic circumstances. A brilliant book and a must read for all that live a spoilt and privileged life in Great Britain.

I’ve learnt so much from this book. The author has successfully depicted the catastrophe of war, its inhumanity and the emergence of humanity simultaneously. My heart goes out to the innocent people and animals that became victims of war. I also feel resentful of the power and violence thirst in humans.As amazing as this book is, I think it’s important to know that this is not an easy read. If you’re reading to escape the reality then maybe this is not for you. Don’t get me wrong of course there are love and hope in the story. But at the same time there are traumas, violence and suffering for generations depicted graphically. Also the fact that knowing for some people these situations/mistreatments were and are still going on is so hard to accept.A wonderful book but I don’t think I want to reread or reach for any books like this for a while.