A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini

Release Date: 22nd May 2007
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 978 0 7475 8297 7
RRP: Ł11.99

A tale of two women whose lives are irrevocably intertwined.

Recognition. That’s what I felt. Recognition of the abnormalities and irregularities in human life. I’m not sure the intention of the author was to deliver something “moving”, rather something reactionary. To be moved, we can weep into our sleeve, tut at the abhorrence of war, bewail the tragedies of terrorism and cry out at the horrific treatment of women – but we don’t have to act, we don’t have to alter our prejudices and we don’t have to work to find a way to make the world a safer or better place to live. We are moved for an instant and then we move onto something else.

There may be those that look at this novel as fiction – and it is... but the reality is this fiction was and is probably fact for thousands of Afghans. Mariam and Laila’s story is compelling, it is tied neatly into a bow of humble self-sacrifice and new beginnings – and that is what makes this fiction. In cold fact, wives and daughters are abused and killed, loveless marriages are still arranged as a normal custom and there is no one to save them. They do not even save each other.

Written with patience, understanding and above all a clear love for a war-torn country – A Thousand Splendid Suns is another literary triumph for Hosseini. An absolute must read.

Your Reviews:

Click here to login or register and leave your very own review of A Thousand Splendid Suns

Be the first to leave your own review of A Thousand Splendid Suns!