A Thousand Splendid
Suns by Khaled Hosseini
(May contain spoilers)
Summary:
Mariam
was only 15 years old Afghani girl when her 3 step mothers forced her to marry
a 45 years old man and go and live with him in Kabul miles away from her birth
place, Herat. With her mother's suicide and her father's lack of care she
decided to marry Rasheed hoping that her life will take a better turn but it
didn't. Mariam had miscarriages that disabled her to carry in the future and
that what made her husband Rasheed abusive and hateful to her.
Years
passed by till the Soviet Union retreated from Afghanistan and the Taliban took
over with their demolished rules: women must not walk by themselves at any time
or else they will get beaten up, women must not put on make up or nail
polish or wear high heels or else they will get beaten up, women must not laugh
or speak in a high voice or else they will get beaten up and on and on of many strict
rules that are effecting not only women but men too that were not supporting
Taliban.
When
Taliban started bombing the houses of the people that weren't supporting them,
one of the houses was Mariam and Rasheed's neighbor, who had a 14 years old
girl named Laila and she was the only survivor. Rasheed had found her under the
rubble and took her to his house and asked Mariam to take care of her and soon
Rasheed had grown feelings for Laila and asked to marry her.
After
so many years, Rasheed found out that the his first child from Laila wasn’t
really his child, so he started beating her like he does with Mariam. Both
Mariam and Laila tried to escape to Pakistan but they got caught by Taliban and
retuned back home to their abusive husband. Many heartbreaking events followed
that until they are both Mariam and Laila ended up in piece, one with finding
her long lost true love and one with death penalty!
My review:
I
don't think that I have read a book that is more heartbreaking than A Thousand
Splendid Suns, It will make you cry and grieve over the characters which the
author made them look so real to us the readers. I love how the author
described every part of Kabul as if he was living there at the moment and did
not once leave his birth place and moved to America. The book did have so many
details but not those that will bore you, it will attract you and make you want
to go and live in Kabul and face what the people have faced at that time.
The
book took place in some important events in the history of the world that is
not everyone is familiar with and it does not get taught in schools like
they do with the World Wars and the Cold Wars. Which is a shame because the wars
of other countries are as important as any other war, let a lone Afghanistan
when Taliban took over! I loved how the author in this part gave details about
those events that are more than enough to make you understand what was going
on, these kinds of books deserve all the awards and recognition in this
world.
A
Thousand Splendid Suns It is one of those books that will make you still think
and talk about it to all of your friends because of its beautifully written
story and the morals it carries such as: the importance of family, friendship
and love and how they will stand like a brick wall in front of all the
impossibilities of life and most importantly how to stand in front of your
fears and defend yourself and your honor especially if you were a female in a
male dominant society as in Afghanistan.
Over
all, this book is indeed heartbreaking but you will love it and you would love
to read it and break your heart more than once.
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