A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns

After 103 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and with four million copies of The Kite Runner shipped, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today.

Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.

A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star painful painful painful, then a nice serving of pain
Lot's of vivid writing but not much content or depth to characters other than suffering, pain, and shattered glimmers of false hope. If you need more to read to push you over the cliff of depression then by all means pick up this book for you will enter DSM IV-R criteria for depression quickly. Once you are brutally dragged across the threshold of depression get ready for the real plunge into desperation-you will desperately long for some glimmer of hope that is not false. Yes, I know what some of you are thinking, that is life there and then, life is suffering . . . yes I think all of us know and see this. Go to any news web site and get your fill of suffering, you don't need to pay to be abused.

5 Stars Couldn't put it down
I just finished reading this book and am still feeling sad! The characters in the book are so well developed and it's easy to empathize with them. I haven't yet read The Kite Runner, but that's next on my list. This book was easy to get into right from the start. I loved it!

3 Stars Good but not great
It is a good story, but you can not avoid comparing it to the kite runner and it falls short.

Good read, but nothing like the Kite Runner.

5 Stars A look into daily Afghan life.
Khaled Hosseini follows his best-selling debut novel "The Kite Runner" The Kite Runner with a sequel that is every bit as splendid as the title suggests. The tone is set early: this is a story about the hardships women face in Afghanistan. Mariam is the daughter of a well-to-do man. Her mother had ended her own life, and Mariam feels a great shame about her life…is married-off to a much older man named Rasheed. Rasheed believes women are the property of their husbands and forces Mariam into a degrading life. This causes the young lady to live a fearful existence…for his temper can result in punches, slaps, and kicks…only to be followed by insincere apologies.

Laila is the second heroine in the story – she becomes Rasheed's second wife. Her life, though a bit brighter, also finds sudden tragedy. She was raised by an intellect who encouraged Laila to follow her dreams. One day, a wayward rocket fired by a warring faction lands on her house and kills her parents. Tariq, her boyfriend, had fled with his family only to become refugees in Pakistan. So now poor Laila, who once had a promising life, finds herself alone. When she discovers she is pregnant with Tariq's child and learns Tariq has been killed (supposedly) near the Pakistani border, she agrees to marry Rasheed.

Once Laila and Rasheed get married, Mariam becomes jealous of Laila, that is, until Aziza )Laila's child) is born. Mariam eventually becomes a second mother to Aziza, and the two woman become friends…and later allies, protecting each other from the abuse suffered by Rasheed. Some have mentioned that this book starts slow…and yes, it does. But eventually Khaled Hosseini's impeccable writing talent shines through and the emotions these two women must tolerate makes the reader forget about the early flaws. His ability to convey daily life for women in this harsh reality is something truly special and evident as to why Mr. Hosseini is a well-renowned author…………..I would also recommend the book that came paired with it: Geo Tin's novel- Sirens (classic): Sirens (classic) it is another great book that will devour your time and captivate your imagination.

4 Stars A Woman's Life
Very well written, but sad tale of life in Afghanistan. The word pictures are wonderful. You can believe that you are part of the life in this war-torn land. There is love, sacrifice, anger, and tragedy depicted in the lives of women. This is a fitting complement to the author's first novel, "Kite Runner."

Buy/More Info

Sphere: Related Content

Related posts:

1. Bible Answers – The end of this age and the beginning of the thousand year reign
2. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years – What I Learned While Editing My Life
3. The Road Less Traveled, 25th Anniversary Edition – A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth
4. God Guided Huckabee to Free Cop Killer and Over a Thousand Others!
5. The Purpose Driven Life – What on Earth Am I Here For?
6. The Reason for God
7. Leaving the Saints How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith
8. The Bible Slam: Numbers Chapter 12
9. The Christmas Sweater
10. The Reed of God

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

IMPORTANT NOTE: We welcome and encourage comments. However, we are receiving many 'junk comments' from people looking for back links. As of noon, November 16, 2009, comment submission authors must use a name. For example, names such as 'Payday Loans' or 'Home Accessories' will be deleted. You may continue to link to your website, but we want names (pen names are all right). Additionally, only substantive comments that have to do with the content of the article will be accepted. Comments such as 'Nice post, thanks,' will be deleted. Comments that link to pornographic or hate sites will also be deleted.

Website

By submitting a comment here you grant this site a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. While we offer immediate approval of comments that are not screened as spam, we reserve the right to delete your comment pursuant to the site's terms, conditions and policies. GOD DISCUSSION RESERVES THE RIGHT TO DELETE OR EDIT COMMENTS FOR ANY REASON, WITHOUT NOTICE, including without limitation grammar errors, "trolling" and spamming.

Security Code: