If you could find a bookshop or library that organised its books by detailed topics rather than alphabetically or by broad genre, I think it's safe to say that the shelf labelled 'Happy Books About Afghanistan' would be one of the emptiest in the shop. A Thousand Splendid Suns is no exception ... Read review
Advantages: Well written and no doubt will sell zillions Disadvantages: A poor shadow of his first best seller
If you could find a bookshop or library that organised its books by detailed topics rather than alphabetically or by broad genre, I think it's safe to say that the shelf labelled 'Happy Books About Afghanistan' would be one of the emptiest in the shop. A Thousand Splendid Suns is no exception to the norm in being almost unremittingly bleak but by the standards of others I've read, it's only scratching the surface.
Khaled Hosseini's ... ...clubs and individual readers alike. A film by the same name was due to hit the cinemas on Boxing Day and should be all around the country in the New Year. So this seems a good time to stop and reflect on 'the book that followed the big book' - the 2007 release of A Thousand Splendid Sons. Does it live up to the promise of the first book or is it just another second-novel flop?
I'm fortunate in having a friend who is arts editor of ... more
If you could find a bookshop or library that organised its books by detailed topics rather than alphabetically or by broad genre, I think it's safe to say that the shelf labelled 'Happy Books About Afghanistan' would be one of the emptiest in the shop. A Thousand Splendid Suns is no exception to the norm in being almost unremittingly bleak but by the standards of others I've read, it's only scratching the surface.
Khaled Hosseini's first book, "The Kite Runner" was a massive international success with - if you believe the publishers' publicity - sales in excess of 8 million copies worldwide. Its popularity was driven largely by word-of-mouth recommendation and it achieved immense popularity amongst book clubs and individual readers alike. A film by the same name was due to hit the cinemas on Boxing Day and should be all around the country in the New Year. So this seems a good time to stop and reflect on 'the book that followed the big book' - the 2007 release of A Thousand Splendid Sons. Does it live up to the promise of the first book or is it just another second-novel flop?
I'm fortunate in having a friend who is arts editor of a newspaper and so gets sent zillions of free books. This was one she put aside for me, knowing it would be right up my street. Fortunately anything about Asia or the Middle East gets on to my pile. I actually received this book back at the end of June but only got round to tackling it - despite my love of the Kite Runner - over the Christmas break. Perhaps that says something about my reluctance to be disappointed.
The Main Characters ********************* Mariam is the bastard daughter of the cinema owner in the town of Hemat - a man with three official wives who still couldn't resist dabbling with her mother. She and her epileptic and disappointed mother live alone in a hut outside the town. Her father Jalil visits every week, brings her gifts and teaches her to fish. Mariam dreams of a day when she'll be accepted by his family and live with her siblings in their fine house in the local town. However, in her quest to get recognition of her status as his daughter, Mariam pushes her mother one step too far with tragic consequences. With no other place to go, the wives take her in - but it's clear they don't plan for her to stay long enough for the whiff of scandal to spread around the town. She's quickly married off to an old guy who owes her dad a favour, who whisks her away to Kabul where she can cause no further embarrassment to her father's family.
Rasheed was widowed and lost his son and so was happy to take on Mariam as his wife. Initially he's not a bad sort - fairly kind and well-meaning though very 'traditional' in some of his views about the importance of a wife's honour. As time passes and Mariam fails to give him what he most wants, his bitterness manifests itself in violence and resentment.
Laila is the daughter of one of Mariam and Rasheed's neighbours, and her mother is a woman who really can't deal with the changes in Afghanistan. Laila has grown up with a lot of the advantages Mariam could only have dreamt of - parents, education and even a boyfriend, one-legged Tariq, the boy she loves and wants to spend her life with. But war takes Tariq and his family away from Kabul and finding herself compromised and with no other way out, she goes to live with Mariam and Rasheed and becomes Rasheed's second wife.
The Plot ********* Well nothing I've mentioned above will go much beyond the plot you could get off the book jacket and I don't want to give away too much. Not because there's all that much to give away because sadly there isn't. There are few major twists and turns and even fewer surprises. Even the plot developments that are intended to shock and surprise were all things I'd guessed long before they cropped up. There's little of the long-term plot building that Hosseini showed in the Kite Runner. The twist in the tail of the story wasn't really much of surprise either.
The key theme of the novel is that women - hoorah - seem to be able to get on with each other regardless of what crap life throws in their paths. It's about indomitable spirit and the importance of having something to live for and how no matter who happens to be invading or ruling your country at the time, a woman's lot is never easy. So far, so predictable.
The interesting thing about the book is not so much the plot as the background. It takes place against a backdrop of a traumatic time in Afghan history (Has there ever been an untraumatic time, I wonder?) in the late 20th Century. We live with the characters through the end of monarchy, the invasion of the Soviet army, their replacement by the Taliban and the US-led action against the Taliban after 9/11. However, whilst all this is going along in the background, it fails to have the same level of impact that the same events had when recounted in the Kite Runner.
What did I think? **************** It's not a bad novel but it's not the best of its kind by a long way. There are biographies and autobiographies of women caught up in the Afghan conflict that are far more shocking than anything Hosseini was able to create from his imagination. His focus is on physical violence whilst the truly shocking tales of abuse and cruelty towards women almost always identify that psychological cruelty always delivers a tougher blow than a husband's fist or a Taliban whipping someone with a radio aerial. If you have read any other books about Afghanistan - I'm thinking in particular of a real stunner called 'Afghanistan, Where God Only Comes to Weep' by Siba Shakib - there is nothing in A Thousand Splendid Suns that will shock you. Similarly, if you've read any of the 'miserable ethnic upbringing' genre - think of something like Adeline Yen Mah's 'Fallen Leaves' for example - then the pain and suffering of this book is light by comparison. Yes, the Russians were nasty and the Taliban were pretty hot on beating women caught out on their own but that's unlikely to be a surprise to most readers.
Can Men Write as Women? ************************** Undeniably the answer to that question is yes. But in this case, the answer is 'yes, but'. Hosseini was recently interviewed by Mariella Fostrup on Radio 4 and admitted that A Thousand Splendid Sons had been a much harder book for him to write than the Kite Runner because it was written from the female viewpoint. Apparently it took him twice as long and in my opinion, the result is about 25% as good. I'll await the contempt of readers who don't accept the 'men can't write as women' and 'women can't write as men' argument and in general it's not one that I accept either. However, in this case, it just doesn't deliver. He's not comfortable in the shoes of a woman and he missed the detail and emotion that I would have expected after reading the Kite Runner. It's not a BAD book - not at all. It's just not in the same league as its predecessor. The violence and emotional torture of the Kite Runner got watered down somewhere in the transition from the tale of a young boy to the tale of two women.
In Conclusion ************** If you are hoping for something as good as the Kite Runner you will probably be disappointed. If you've read other stories set in the same time and place, then you'll probably be disappointed. But it'll still be a massive best-seller, regardless of what I or anyone else think of it.
Note - please ignore the criteria below - Ciao seem to think it's an audio book even though this is a book listing.
Advantages: Gripping story, great characters Disadvantages: Doesn't quite live up to The Kite Runner
...again in his second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. This time stepping into a woman's shoes, it tells the story of two women and their marraige to the same man, set against the backdrop of the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The story begins in Afghanistan in the 1970's and introduces us to Mariam, the illegitimate child of a wealthy cinema owner, who lives with her mother in a small hut on the top of a hill. They live a somewhat lonely life, ... ...very 'traditional' views of how a wife should behave, at first simply covering up in public for him, but increasingly finding herself having to submit to him in every way.
Moving on to 15 years later, Laila is the daughter of one of Mariam's neighbours, a very pretty and outgoing girl, she finds herself the victim of a family tragedy and is left with no other choice than to accept Rashid's proposal of marriage. Despite the initial friction between ...
bubblegum_princess 03.02.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
Advantages: great read, throughly engaging Disadvantages: very sad
...Kite Runner, I put ' A thousand splendid suns' on my christmas list, knowing that I could fairly easily borrow a copy of The Kite Runner. Although I'm ashamed to say that I still havent read the first book. This book however is a first for me in the sense of Middle Eastern story telling. I tend to stick to perhaps tales with more of a happy theme, a sucker for a bit of romance I suppose. I am therefore not comparing this book to the authors first, ... ...her troubled mother. Mariam is a 'harami' born out of wedlock, her father a wealthy business man with 3 wives. Mariam is visited once a week by her father, visits she looks forward to very much, her mind constantly yearning to become part of his large family and accepted into his society, Laila is born to a very different family, with a father who is keen for her to use her full potential and get educated for the new Afghanistan. Both women find ...
mussonanna 20.02.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
Advantages: thought provoking, un-putdownable, entralling, beautifully written and current. Disadvantages: I actually cant think of any
...that you have come across a special book when one passage makes you shake with anger and the next passage has you smiling at a small act of triumph. A Thousand Splendid Suns is one of those books.
~~The Author~~
I first became aware of Khaled Husseini and his books when he was nominated for three awards at the Galaxy Book Awards.
Husseini was born in Kabul in Afghanistan in 1965, but was relocated through his fathers work to Paris in the 1970's. ... ...in the United States. A Thousand Splendid Suns is Husseini's second novel, following the hugely successful Kite Runner. He is now a goodwill envoy to UNHCR.
~~Plot~~
The story is based on two women in Afghanistan and how their lives become intwined through sharing the same husband. A Thousand Splendid Suns begins by telling the story of Mariam growing up in Afghanistan in the 1970's. Mariam lives with her mum and lives a lonely life constantly ...
burtybookworm 02.09.2008 (25.09.2008)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
Advantages: Thought provoking masterpiece Disadvantages: Very sad
...was an excellent insite into a journey which, although fictional, could not be further from the truth of the lives of so many women. It makes one think of the contrasts of our comfortable lives in the west to that of those in other parts of the world. It was an incredibly thought provoking and extremely emotional book. It thoroughly deserves the praise it has been receiving.
It keeps you guessing and wanting more throughout the experience. A real ... ...is amazing to think the a man can portay the thoughts and feeling of a woman so well. The two women in this novel are so strong in so many ways. The hardships they face as individuals as well as a couple are mind blowing. You first start off with the character of Mariam when she is still in the age of innocence. The journey she takes plays on your mind for a long time. You feel that you grow with her and go through the hard ships with her. By the ...
Noshbox 14.09.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
Advantages: Highly intruiging, involving and compelling Disadvantages: None
...It gives an insight into a very different world where the rights of women are practically non existent.
I got to a stage in the book that i just started crying, the characters are so real you can almost touch them. This is a book that must be read by everybody, it is very real, moving , gripping and intruiging. i have not read the 'Kite Runner' by the same author but if it is like this, i will make sure i read it as soon as possible.
A note of ...
kemi77 16.04.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
Would you read it again?
Story
Characters
Readability
How does it compare to ...
How does it compare to ...
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini"
Advantages: Very well written; excellent story and characters Disadvantages: Harrowing references to conflict
Set against a backdrop of conflicts in Afghanistan, KhaledHosseini's second novel 'A ThousandSplendidSuns' is essentially the tale of two women, Mariam and the younger Laila. The blurb tells us that it concerns the friendship, 'as strong as the ties between mother and daughter', that develops between them. It is a while, however, before this friendship starts, and there is a great deal of pain and hardship both before and after its beginning.
Part One of the novel, covering a hundred pages, follows the childhood of Mariam. She is the illegitimate daughter of Nana and Jalil, one of the wealthiest men in the city of Herat. Mariam and Nana have been sent out of town to live in a kolba or simple wooden hut to avoid embarrassing Jalil, his three wives and other children. Jalil visits Mariam every Thursday, and she thinks the sun shines ...
Advantages: An absolutely rivetting book Disadvantages: You WILL cry!!
A THOUSANDSPLENDIDSUNSKHALEDHOSSEINI
Last year I read KhaledHosseini's book, 'The Kite Runner'.
That story concentrated on the life of a young Afghan boy as he grew up in violent and confused times. I found it to be an remarkable book that was packed full of emotion.
So on finding that the author fhad written another story that takes place in Afghanistan, 'A ThousandSplendidSuns', I had to read it.
THE AUTHOR
An author's background does not always have a lot of relevance on a book when writing a book review, but I felt that for this book, his background is VERY important.
KhaledHosseini was born in 1965 in Afghanistan.
He was born into a privileged position as the son of a diplomat with the country's foreign ministry, while his mother was a high school language and history high ...
occasions in the book when I'd actually been reduced to teas. Now that is unusual for me. Autobiographies can make me well up, some even make me cry buckets, but never before has a piece of fiction stirred me so much. The first incident was when Laila and baby Aziza were minutes away from death. The description at this point is so vivid, it's horrifying. The second time was when we see the end of a much loved character. I'll say no more about that, I wouldn't want to spoil the shock.
I'd never actually heard of author KhaledHosseini, I'd never heard of A ThousandSplendidSuns, and my initial reaction before reading was not at all positive. However, I could not have been more wrong. I've never read any fiction that has left such an imprint in my mind. I've never read anything with such strong characters as those dealt with in this book ...
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.
Compare A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini to other similar Modern Fiction Books »
Similar products and search queries by other users »
A Hosseini, A Thousand Hosseini, A Splendid Hosseini, A Suns Hosseini, A Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Hosseini, A Thousand Suns Hosseini, A Thousand Khaled Hosseini, A Splendid Suns Hosseini, A Splendid Khaled Hosseini, A Suns Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Suns Khaled Hosseini, A Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini
Are you the manufacturer / provider of A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini? Click here
![Listennn... The Album [PA] - DJ Khaled](http://imagesa.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/182/Listennn_The_Album_PA_DJ_Khaled__6590182.jpg)
