A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

Set against a backdrop of conflicts in Afghanistan, Khaled Hosseini's second novel 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' 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 ... more

When browsing for a new book to read, I wasn't too sure what I was after. A light read perhaps? Or something to tease the mind? When I was shown this particular book, I wasn't too excited. The first thing I found peculiar about the book is its style. The first part takes us through the life of Mariam, a character who was then just a teenager, and the problems she had to deal with. In the second part of the book, we jump to a new character called Laila, who is only a child. We read about the issues in her life too, and it is quite easy to compare the different lifestyles both our characters ... more

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS KHALED HOSSEINI Last year I read Khaled Hosseini'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 Thousand Splendid Suns', 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. Khaled ... more

This book came my way via a friend who told me is was fantastic and I would love it. Since we often have similar tastes in books I put it quite near the top of my “to read” pile and I looked forward to reading it. About the Author Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and grew up in the area until his father was transferred to Paris with his work. Because of the unrest the family chose not to return to Afghanistan and instead they headed for America and political asylum. He is now based in California and is a US goodwill envoy for the United Nations Refugee Agency. He is a qualified ... more