A Thousand Splendid Suns
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- £7.99
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Afghan-American novelist Hosseini follows up his bestselling The Kite Runner with another searing epic of Afghanistan in turmoil. The story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny through the lives of two women. Mariam is the scorned illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, forced at age 15 into marrying the 40-year-old Rasheed, who grows increasingly brutal as she fails to produce a child. Eighteen later, Rasheed takes another wife, 14-year-old Laila, a smart and spirited girl whose only other options, after her parents are killed by rocket fire, are prostitution or starvation. Against a backdrop of unending war, Mariam and Laila become allies in an asymmetrical battle with Rasheed, whose violent misogyny "There was no cursing, no screaming, no pleading, no surprised yelps, only the systematic business of beating and being beaten" is endorsed by custom and law. Hosseini gives a forceful but nuanced portrait of a patriarchal despotism where women are agonizingly dependent on fathers, husbands and especially sons, the bearing of male children being their sole path to social status. His tale is a powerful, harrowing depiction of Afghanistan, but also a lyrical evocation of the lives and enduring hopes of its resilient characters.
Customer Reviews
An eye-opening novel
Beautiful and heartbreaking. The prose was gorgeous, I could’t put it down
Excellent and thought provoking
This book made me tear up & is beautifully written, very thought provoking
Heavy
This one is a tough read! Struggled to finish it, as a woman, the reality was too much to digest. The plot was triggering, heartbreaking and realistic. From first page to last, my heart was aching, too much pain. Well, reality of the world is always unbearable. When I finished the book, I felt like coming from a long journey. The book was painful because it is written so beautifully that the reader will start to feel being an audience of the horrors. A brilliant book but tough read for softies !