Finished On: 20th December,2014
Edition Details:
Format:Trade Paperback
Page Count : 372
Publisher:Bloomsbury
First Sentence:
Mariam was five years old the first time she heard the word harami.
A thousand splendid suns is the second novel by Khaled Hosseini. It was first published in 2007.The title of the book comes from the English translation done by Josephine Davis of a poem ‘Kabul’ written by Sahib Tabrizi.
“Every street of Kabul is enthralling to the eye
Through the bazaars, caravans of Egypt pass
One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs
And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls”
A thousand splendid suns was a beautiful book to read. The book is about two characters Mariam and Laila. Although, Mariam was 19 years older than Laila. She was illegitimate child and had to face the social stigma related to it. On the other hand Laila was born in a family which had more liberal outlook. She was the youngest child of the family. She was the apple of her father’s eyes unlike Mariam who got to see her father only on a particular day of a week. But they shared some similarities too.
Mariam’s mother was a woman who had become a cynic and embittered in her life and often she took it out on Mariam. On the other hand Laila’s mother completely ignored her as she used to think only about her older sons who had gone to fight.
Both had dreams which were cruelly broken by the fate. Mariam wanted a family but fate had given her Rasheed. Her married life had become a living hell when Rasheed was sure that she would never able to give him a child that he so much coveted.
On the other hand there was Laila, who was in love with her neighbor Tariq and her feelings were reciprocated by Tariq with equal fervor. But all this gets snatched from her. In one moment her life gets destroyed and she is forced to come to Rasheed’s house and marry him.
And coincidentally they both were fifteen when their life takes a sudden change and they both find themselves in Rasheed’s home .What will happen now? How will Mariam and Laila live and will they achieve happiness?? Read this beautiful book to find out.
I liked the book although it becomes a little depressing sometimes. Mariam was such a beautiful child. She never wanted ill of anyone but what she goes through in life really made me sad. On the other hand Laila had a more loving life and she seemed to have a life of a normal girl until Rasheed came in her life. The characters really made me connect to them and i felt i was living in the time and locality where the story was taking place.
The thousand splendid suns is not only a beautiful book in which reader witnesses lives of Mariam and Laila but he also witnesses the Afghanistan and changes that happened there from 1960’s to 2000’s . I could see the changes happening in the country through the eyes of various characters. The dethroning of King, the fall of communists, the leaving of Russian’s, the mujaheddin and finally the Taliban and their downfall. We get to witness these changes through the eyes of common people. How these people react to these changes gives an insight into what people used to think about these regimes. We get to see the reactions of people from different walks of lives. We see a female doctor who has to perform an operation in burqa. We see unchaperoned women beaten by the so called guardians of religion. We see people fighting for basic amenities. And we see people who are like us and want only peace. When i used to think or hear about Afghanistan the first thing that used to pop in my mind was Taliban. But after reading Kahaled’s book my perspective about the country and its people has definitely changed. Now i see people who feel sad, people who have been ravaged by various wars, people who want peace. I think this is what good literature is all about. It connects you to those people whose lives are described in it and you sit back and say,’Man,their traditions may be different, their clothes may be different but the emotions that make the core of a human existence are definitely similar to mine.’
I have talked till now about the good things of the book. There was only one thing that i didn’t like. When i was reading the book there was instances when i felt the author was using a formula. He used to raise hopes that now something good will happen in character’s life but it never used to happen. After sometime when ever i was seeing something i was sure it’s not going to turn out good. This thing kind of irritated me. This was the only problem that i had with this book.
If you haven’t read this book then you should read this book and all others by the author. If you have read this book, well you can meet Mariam and Laila again. It was a good read that truly deserved all the accolades it got.
You can get the book from the following links:
Flipkart
Amazon
