A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini

Khaled’s prose will definitely have you reading his 500 and more paged books in less than a day. The captivating suspense as each page turns, draws you deeper and deeper into he world of these characters.

I must say, I was in Afghanistan as I read this book, walking the streets of Kabul with Laila and Tariq and feeling the thrashing on my flesh with each belt stroke that Rasheed landed on Mariam’s flesh.

‘In those letters, I saw the unique ability that fiction has to connect people who dress differently or practice different religions and I saw how universal different human experiences were like love, loss and pain.’
Post Script, Khaled Hosseini: A Thousand Splendid Suns

***

Rating: 5 stars
Themes: Loss, Death, War, Grief, Child marriage
Pages: 412
Triggers: Death, Domestic violence

Set in early Afghanistan, Khaled’s book narrates the bitter sweet encounters that each of the characters in the book experience to get where they are.

Mariam, born out of wedlock and married at the age of 15 to a man four times her age at the death of her mother, ends her story with the murder of her husband, subjected to the unforgiving extremism of Sharia law. His continuous and relentless beatings caused them so much pain, it was time to end it.

Laila, an educated young girl who loses her parents to the Taliban, is also immersed into the viciousness of Rasheed’s fist.

This book will trigger all the empathy and compassion you can summon up, towards these characters.

I’d definitely recommend this piece of fiction that addresses the current state of affairs of women in Afghanistan and the pain endured during the changes of leadership that continues to affect them. Khaled’s foundation, set up to particularly help people in the refugee camps of war torn Afghanistan will move you to contribute and play a part in the full liberation of the plight of the children and women in Afghan.

The book gives hope. Hope that love always wins. Hope that you are not your past. Hope that tomorrow, the sun will rise, and you will live again. You will see the beauty and splendor in the golden rays of the sun as it gently kisses your cheeks to promise a new start. One without pain, loss, and grief. Hope that you will make it to the end, joyful and gratified.

‘To a chorus of flipping pages, Laila makes her way to the curtainless window… Above them, over the mountains, the morning sun is rising, it catches the metallic rim of the basketball hoop, the chain link of the tire swings… Laila flattens her palms against the warm glass panes. Closes her eyes. She lets the sunlight fall on her cheeks, her eyelids, her brow.’

Cheers.