After reading Khaled Hosseini's first novel, The Kite Runner, I was keen to see if he could achieve the same thing 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, outcast from any kind of community and with Mariam's mother blaming her for the downturn her life has taken and warning of the way that women are treated by men in Afghan society. Despite this, Mariam is often visited by her father, who takes her fishing and brings her gifts. However, despite her father's affection for Mariam, it is clear that, being illegitimat, she cannot be part of his life and, when her mother commits suicide, she finds herself married off to one of her father's business acquiantances, Rasheed, and living miles away from anyone she knows. Rasheed has lost both his wife and his child and when Mariam suffers numerous miscarraiges, his frustration towards Mariam begins to reveal itself both physically and psychologically. Mariam finds herself having to conform to Rasheed's 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 the two wives, they develop a close friendship.
The novel spans the space of over 20 years and is set against the backdrop of what seems like a constant battle for power as the Taliban rise to power. Parts of the novel are quite horrific and really capture the horror that human beings are capable of inflicting on each other, although not as horrifying or as unrelenting as Half of a Yellow Sun, which I had read just before this. The writing style is easy to read but at the same time very evocative. However, the equally shocking aspect of this novel is the domestic abuse that Rasheed subjects both his wives to and as the novel progresses he reveals himself to be an increasingly despicable character. And yet amongst this, there are moments of touching emotion and I have to admit I found the thought of the whole of Afghanistan being gripped by the release of Titanic, even whilst these horrible events unfold around them, very bittersweet and funny.
The overriding theme of this novel is the treatment of women in Afghan society and under Taliban rule, set up by the rantings of Mariam's mother and continued throughout the novel. Both women in this novel are hugely strong, simply dealing with whatever adversities life throws at them and by the end of the novel you are really rooting for things to work out for both women and for their lives to take a turn for the better.
However, I found that Hosseini didn't quite manage to achieve the same impact when writing as a woman as he did when speaking as a male in The Kite Runner. The events in The Kite Runner seemed to unfold far more quickly and had far more emotional impact than here, and the novel as a whole seemed to have a more developed plot. I found the twists in the plot fairly predictable, finding that I'd guessed them before they were revealed. Despite the slight disappointment, I still really enjoyed this novel and would highly recommend it - it's very involving and easy to read, despite the violent backdrop - I was so gripped by it, I finished it within a day whilst on a long plane journey and the time flew (*groan*!)
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Feb 3rd, 2009
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