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A Thousand Splendid Suns by: Khaled Hosseini

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Rating: - READ IT!

A totally gripping, fantastic book. Would recommend to all. A very readable, very worthwhile read.

Rating: - Excellent read!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, couldn't put it down. Cried my eyes out and I am usually tough as old boots. I am just sad that he has only written two books ( the first being The Kite Runner, also very good) I am eagerly awaiting more from Khaled Hosseini.

Rating: - Beautifully written without the pomposity of it's peers

This story is compelling because the subject matter is emotionally and intellectually engaging, challenging any preconceptions you may have of Afghanistan at any time in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Wonderfully written, but easily accessible where most of its peers are often too clever by far; descriptions of events and landscapes are filmic and often poetic. The use of some regional dialect (such as Farsi) with immediate translations help the characters maintain their integrity and grounding in local culture whilst totally immersing the reader in the plot.

A Thousand Splendid Suns draws the reader in and the lives of these women couldn't be more real, I thoroughly enjoyed this book from the first to the last page - I didn't skim read a single paragraph.

Rating: - Afghan Dickensian dystopia with little room for hope: very informative

I started reading this book and it did not grip me. The chapters were short and self contained. A few chapters on, I was hooked. I finished it almost on the same day, from 11AM to 12PM and maybe 1 hour the next morning. It seemed important to find out what happens.

There are two main female protagonists Mariam and Laila, their lives are brought together by marriage to the same husband. Also featured are Nana, Mariam's mother, a key player who sets the tone for the whole story. Everything she says turns out to be true and we sense it, even though Mariam finds it so disagreeable, that Mariam is actually a bastard child and has no place in that society's system of ethics and hierarchy.

Mariam is married off to Rasheed to get rid of her, by her stepmothers and stepfather. Classic fairy tale material. She will never find a prince though.

Tariq is Laila's boyfriend, he's a sort of prince though is more a background character. And there are so many educated folk and sensitive people brought to the fore, against the backdrop of a worsening political situation in the country that is narrated fairly faithfully, true to history. We get a commentary from the pre Soviet invasion all the way to 9/11 and beyond.

There is a spotlight of the oppression of women under Islam's strict Sharia laws as imposed by the Taliban and lesser fanatics, though a kinder face of that same culture is also brought forth, in the pre Soviet era in particular.

My special highlight was a tour of the Bamiyan Buddha's when Laila is a young child.

We get an insiders look at life in Kabul and what it may be like to wear a burka. The grim treatment of women and their predicament under sharia is highlighted as they are so powerless against the male dominated justice system. Sadly, the situation under the Taliban is now been replicated in Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria and Indonesia - the epidemic of Sharia is spreading.

Mercifully here, there is room for hope at the end, but after a lot of suffering and unresolved politics. Hosseini is a brilliant story teller and a credit to his people. I just hope that women like Mariam get the justice and recompense they deserve.

Rating: - Splendid!

This is the second purchase of this item as I was so delighted with the first, bought for a friend, that I decided to get one for myself. Excellent value and quality product.

Review Pages: 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next »