A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS 📖

BOOK REVIEW 

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

“One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs,Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.”. 

 The novel is set in Afghanistan from the 1960s to the 1990s, spanning from Soviet occupation to the Taliban control, following the lives of two women in their marriages and in their war-torn country. Expecting domestic abuse, graphic war descriptions and a main theme of oppression is depicted on Afghan women. The vivid description of book took me into the Afghan valleys. Heartfelt, moving and stunningly beautiful, wonderfully portrayed the hardship of Afghani women, the essence of their friendship which turns out into a mother-daughter relation. " The writing engrossed me. Hosseini magically puts the reader inside the city, neighbourhood, and house of the characters. I found myself wanting to console Mariam and Laila, and to harshly react, abuse and kick at Rasheed myself - despicable brute.

The novel is split in a dual narrative, the first being Mariam when she is nine, living on the outskirts of Herat with her bitter mother, anxiously in wait for the once-a-week visits from her wealthy father. Branded a harami, an illegitimate child, Mariam faces many prejudices and blame not only from the family of her father, but also from her own mother. Hosseini introduces a naïve child whom you immediately pity, and also feel a foreboding clutch the pages. Not soon into the story, Mariam discovers the emptiness in her father's love and after her mother's suicide, is forced to marry a man more than 20 years her senior, her being only 15.

Rasheed is a kind man, albeit rather archaic in his manner and grumpy, but all things considered Mariam's life does not seem so terrible anymore. Until the miscarriage. And then the continual miscarriages. However, Hosseini does something new. You pity the husband, for his past is one with sorrow much like Mariam's- it does not justify his actions- but you feel sympathy for his situation.

Then comes the second narrative- Laila. An innocent young child with a best friend who is a boy, a family torn by the war that steals her brothers away from her and in turn her mother's affection. Orphaned, torn from her love, Laila agrees to marry Rasheed. The stories of these two wives will make you gaze in awe at the sheer strength of love in desperate times. All the way through the novel Hosseini weaves in information about Afghanistan's situation nevertheless it is only here that it takes a role in the story. Yet he makes sure that it is never a driving force in the novel- that is for the voices of these two women. Both trying to make do, muddling through life trying to find joy through the gloom, one innocent yet hiding a terrible secret and another bitter with age and resenting her life. Both still with a glimmer of hope in their eyes as they embark on a great journey.

Hosseini's writing is simple, and that is all it needs to be, a welcoming contrast to Mariam and Laila's complex situations. By the end you are not only left with a tear, but with a fire lit within. It is above all a story of hope and of life, the heroism that comes with love and the inevitable strife that comes with living. Inspirational, outstanding, emotional piece of tale.

 Though this book is amazing and important. I want to tellyou all, that it isn't easy to read. It's not easy to contain yourself with everything that Khaled talks about. But at the end your heart would want to read it more. I'm sure you're going to weirdly connect to the characters, walk their journey with them and cry with them. I absolutely loved this book. Powerful and heartfelt. It is a story of sacrifice, struggle and strength