Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns

 

Overall:

I finished this book four days ago and have been processing it all this time. I don’t think I have waited this long to review a book before. This book just put me in a trance I couldn’t get out of, where all I thought about was the characters and their fates. 

The story is so well written and woven together so beautifully with everything coming to a close at the end. Nothing was left unanswered and I like that. 

I have said this before and I’ll say it again. Khaled Hosseini is an absolute artistic with his words. His characters are so real and raw. From the beginning I was very invested in every character. Even Nana, Mullah Faizullah and Jalil who are side characters. I cared about what happened to each one of them and often times found myself tear-up when disaster strikes. 

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Summary: 

Mariam: Mariam was the most innocent girl living alone with her mother who constantly guilt trip her by calling her a Harami! (Even though it’s her mother’s own fault for bearing an illegitimate child in the first place) Even after hearing the many accusations her mother makes of her father Jalil, she still loves him so much and waits for his visits eagerly. That is until Jalil betrays her by making her which is so heartbreaking. After her mother kills herself Jalil and his wives wed her of to Rasheed who is twice her age and simply loathsome. Rasheed expects her to bear him a son. But after countless miscarriages he starts to abuse her and it goes downhill from there. 

We get to see Mariam grow-up from being the small girl worshipping her father to this patient woman tolerates life’s misgivings with a grace like no other. Until she meets Laila, the only light in her life was Mullah Faizullah, to whom she didn’t even get to say goodbye. 

Laila: Laila grows up in a very different environment than Mariam. Being loved and supported by her father and having friends and going to school. Until the war got so bad that it killed one of her friends and the other one went away. But she still had her parents and Tariq. We see laila starting to develop feelings toward Tariq and just when he start to reciprocate them they are separated by the war. Tariq and Laila’s last goodbye was them sleeping together for the first time. 

When Tariq leaves and things take a worse turn on the ear front Laila and her family decides to move too. But then a bomb hits their house and her parents are dead. She ends up in Rasheed’s house where he cooks up lies about Tariq dying in Pakistan and force her to marry him. Laila decides to marry him because she is pregnant with Tariq’s child and that is the only safe option for her!

Mariam and Laila: these two start their relationship hating each other. Mariam says Laila stole her husband and Laila is angry because she feels that is an unfair accusation. Then it develops into a quiet companionship and evolves into a strong bond when Laila tells her the truth. They try escaping and get caught. By this time Laila’s daughter Aziza is very attached to Mariam. Then Laila gets pregnant with Rasheed’s child. The hardest scene for me to read was when Laila’s child is breached and the doctor has to do a c section but no anesthesia is available, so they have to cut her open without it. When Zalamai is born Rasheed dotes on him. But he still treats Mariam, Laila and Aziza so badly. When the famine hits hard they have to send Aziza to an orphanage. And one day when Rasheed was at work and Laila, Mariam and Zalamai was coming home from visiting Aziza they find Tariq waiting on their doorstep. When Rasheed finds out about this he tries to kill Laila. Mariam acts on instinct and hits him on the head with a shovel which kills him. Mariam turns herself in and is executed for the crime. Laila and Tariq takes the kids and leave for Pakistan where they get married. They return to Kabul later and make a beautiful life there with Laila teaching in the orphanage. Laila ends up visiting to Mariam’s hometown and finding her past there. 

It was just so beautiful and a summary like this does not do it justice. I marked every page I cried on and its many haha. I haven’t ever wrote a summary on a book like this before. I just needed to get them out. I will forever treasure this book and the characters in my heart. Looking forward to many rereads to come.