A Thousand Splendid Suns
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4.7 • 2.9K Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, the #1 New York Times bestseller 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.
“Just as good, if not better, than Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling first book, The Kite Runner.”—Newsweek
New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today.
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Khaled Hosseini followed up the breakout success of 2003’s The Kite Runner with another deeply affecting novel set in Taliban-era Afghanistan. A Thousand Splendid Suns addresses the country’s traditions, hardships, and endemic gender inequality through the eyes of two female protagonists. Raised in very different circumstances a generation apart, Mariam and Laila are both married to abusive, polygamous shoemaker Rasheed. Though their early relationship is contentious, the women end up forming a powerful and improbable friendship. Their bond gives Hosseini’s often bleak and war-weary tale a sense of optimism that left a lump in our throat.
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
Awesome
Received this book for my birthday and it was amazing! You felt the anger the love the hurt the pain of all the characters. I loved every part of it! I would recommend it to anyone!
So Good
I could not stop reading this book . It was really good. Every ending to a chapter just kept me suspenseful and I needed to read more. Very good book has a lot of drama, action, and imagery. I would highly recommend it.
Amazing
This is a must read book! It will make you sad and happy at the same time. It makes you think about the kind of society that women live in this country and the society that women live in Afghanistan. I recommend it!