“A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini
Book # 43: A book set in the Middle East
I had a really hard time finding a book for this category because, I myself, am not very familiar with Middle Eastern authors. I follow the news stories on the Middle East but most of the time it upsets me. People kept telling me to read “The Kite Runner”. They said it was amazing and I would love it. I looked into it but something about it just didn’t grab me. So I Googled “Middle Eastern Books” eventually after looking through many webpages I decided to go with this book, “A Thousand Splendid Suns”. It’s by the same author as “The Kite Runner” but what drew me to this one is it is a story about women. As a woman I enjoy reading stories about other women. I simply relate to them more. From the very first chapter of this book I felt like I could connect to the main character, Miriam. She has a certain kind of innocence to her and a love towards her father that is sweet and simple. Because she is a child, she doesn’t realise how complicated this relationship is and her highly cynical mother uses her sharp tongue to try and bring Miriam to this reality. I empathised with her because her mother was so mean to her and it seemed so unnecessary to me. You want to jump in and defend Miriam. The second part of the book introduces Laila. Laila grew up in Kabul and is therefore more liberal than Miriam, who is from the country. An unlikely relationship forms between the two women. This story is wonderfully written. At times I felt myself being moved to tears at the despair and trials that fill these two women’s lives. The book accurately covers the turbulent times of the last 30 years in Afghanistan through the eyes of these two dynamic women. I would highly recommend this book to people interested in learning more about the conflict in Afghanistan. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Happy Reading!
Kate
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