A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns is written by the author Khaled Hosseini. It is set in modern times and takes place in Afghanistan. The story is about a fifteen-year-old Afghani girl, Mariam, who is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Almost 20 years later a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila. The bond between these two becomes as strong as the ties between mother and daughter.

When Laila suffers from losing her family, Mariam og Rasheed agrees to take care of her. Mariam suggests that she gets married to Rasheed, since she’s not capable of give him children because of health complications. While both suffer a terrible marriage to Rasheed, Laila decides to runaway. She wants Mariam to come with her, but there are compilations. The Taliban has taken over and strict laws are placed on women. Women no longer may travel without men, and just about all their freedom is taken away. This shows us how different the cultures and religions in the world really are. Both of these women live in the curse of Islam. They don’t have any rights and they’re worth nothing.

The book starts by telling about Mariam’s childhood. She lives in a small shack with her mother, Nana, outside of the city Herat in Afghanistan. Her mother had worked as a housemaid for Jalil, who’s a wealthy cinema owner. After she got pregnant with Jalil, Mariam’s father, he cast her out to the shack. Jalil has multiple legitimate wives and children, but Mariam is an illegitimate "harami" or bastard. He comes to visit her once a week, telling her stories and giving her gifts. She adores him and wants him closer. Eventually she thinks this will happen, but it doesn’t turn out that way. In this part of the book we get to know Mariam and her background. This will help us understand more as the story continues. This is a great way to capture the reader in the beginning. The story is set a totally different part of the world that we’re not familiar with. Which makes it both interesting and shocking to read about.

When Jalil sends Mariam to Kabul to marry Rasheed, she never wants to speak to him again. Rasheed who’s significantly older than her, is a good husband to her in the first part of their marriage. But when she’s not capable to give him children, he doesn’t bother for her anymore. We now get to see how unfortunate the role of a woman can be if you’re not capable of giving birth to a child. Now she’s not worth anything to him, and his hot temper makes her daily life a living hell. After reading about Mariam’s life, we now get to know the local teenage girl, Laila. When she loses her family when a missile destroys their house, Rasheed agrees with Mariam to take care of her. In the start there’s not such a good tone between Mariam and Laila. Since Laila is capable of giving birth to a baby boy, she’s suddenly the apple of Rasheed’s eye. This quickly chance, and both Mariam and Laila realize they have to stick together. We get to know two unfortunate stories of two Afghani girls, with totally different backgrounds. They got the same cruel destiny, but for one of them it’s not too late.

The story ends with Laila and Tariq finally getting married and living together. But after the United States invades Afghanistan, the conditions in Kabul are improving. When Laila finds about this she wants to return and contribute. Tariq agrees. Now Laila and her loved one, Tariq, moves into a townhouse in Kabul with Aziza and Zalmai. While Laila is teaching at a orphanage, Tariq works for an NGO (non-governmental organization) that fits land mine victims with prosthetic limbs. Despite Afghanistan’s cruelties and harshness and hardships, the novel ends on a high note, suggesting the possibility of a better future.

This book is amazingly written, and it captures you instantly. In the book we are introduced to girls from the other side of the world, which makes the book not only interesting but also very informative. I would highly recommend the book to everybody, since it got such good themes in it. It should definitively be in the school library, and it should almost be imposed to read it. I would say Khaled Hosseini is extraordinary talented to describe the setting, and A Thousand Splendid Suns is presenting some of the main themes in today’s society in Afghanistan. Through the book we read about ties to Afghanistan, oppression, hope, marriage versus true love and female bonds. The story is beautiful, as well as it’s heartbreaking.