Author: Khaled Hossein

"Emotionally Intelligent & a Breathtaking Piece of Art"

Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is a historical fiction about two women in Afghanistan during the country's pathetic history of war and oppression. The story revolves around the main characters along with the political history of Afghanistan and the Taliban.

The book reveals three decades of Anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny through the lives of two women and a tale of two cities- Herat and Kabul.

In the beginning, the story drops us into the world of Mariam, an illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, growing up on the outskirts of Herat, a small town in Afghanistan. She is quickly married off to a much older widowed shoemaker named Rasheed, who abuses her both physically and verbally because of her series of miscarriages. Thus her luck turned from bad to worse living in the fear of her husband's torture.

Meanwhile, in Kabul, Mariam's life is switched to that of a neighbour, Laila, an intelligent young girl growing up in a liberal family. A few years later, Laila finds her life literally shattered when a rocket hits her house killing her parents and wounding her severely.

Tariq, a respectful and intelligent boyfriend of Laila, has already left Kabul with his family. Laila suddenly finds herself with no resources or friends. When she discovers that she is pregnant with Tariq's child and learns Tariq has supposedly died from injuries, she agrees to marry Rasheed. Mariam at first sees Laila as a rival but when Laila's daughter, Aziza, arrives, she and Laila become allies against Rasheed's abuses. Gradually, the story attempts to show the fallout that Afghanistan's violent history has had on a handful of individuals, ending in the death of one character at the hands of the Taliban and the promise of a new life for another.

Hosseini's melodramatic plot conveys the aspect of love and the ways people sacrifice themselves for those they care about. He was successful in giving us the sense of every individual's life in Kabul before and after the harsh reign of the Taliban. The story plays an important part in expressing the poor and hazardous living conditions of the characters which reach the readers emotionally. Even the very last line of the novel has the power to move hearts. The book is definitely worth a read to any reader who has a thirst for knowledge and is looking for an engrossing story.

Book Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns || Sheikh Sanjeedah Sara

Sheikh Sanjeedah Sara is a student of Rajuk Uttara Model College in Class 10. She enjoys reading books.