A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a powerful novel written by Khaled Hosseini. It is a novel that shows the female perspective of life in Kabul, Afghanistan. The novel discusses the events that have occurred in Afganistan ranging from everyday life in Kabul to the Soviet Invasion to the Taliban takeover of Kabul. It is a story of two women, Mariam and Laila, who are born in different generations but experience the same pain, separation, and loss when trying to live a simple life. The novel switches between Mariam's and Laila's life story, and just like in their life, their stories become one in the middle of the novel. Mariam is a girl who never received the love of her mom and yearned for her father's attention while he was juggling another family he started with three other women. Her mom could not stand the lonlieness and she kills herself. Mariam was hoping to live with her father forever as well as being accepted by his other wives. Instead of welcoming Mariam, the three wives accept a marriage proposal for her to a bald, old man named Rasheed. Mariam accepts the proposal without knowing what she's getting herself into. He gives her all these rules to follow such as wearing a veil when they went out in public. I learned that women during this time were told to cover their faces when they went out in public by wearing a burqa, a veil because her faces were onnly for their husband to see. 20 years pass by and Mariam receives no love or happiness from her husband. Instead she receives harsh beatings because she could not give him a child, more importantly a son. On the other hand there is Laila, an educated girl (education was not something every girl of Kabul could receive) who lives the perfect life and even has someone special in it, a boy named Tariq. There fairytale story came to an end when the Soviet invasion was occurring. Tariq moved to Pakistan while Laila stayed with her family in Kabul. Her mother refused to go anywhere after losing her two sons to the war. She thought the invasion would end and her sons' mission would be complete. When Laila's father finally persuaded his wife to move, a shell hit their house and everything changed forever. Laila lost her parents and found unconcious by a man named Rasheed. He could not keep an unmarried girl in his house so he made her emotionally weak by telling her that Tariq had died. Laila ended up marrying Rasheed which did not make Mariam too happy. Laila had a daughter named Aziza, Tariq's daughter not Rasheeds, something he is not aware of. She then has a son named Zalmai with Rasheed. Years pass by and nothing has changed except Mariam and Laila's relationship. They have become friends because Laila sticks up for Mariam when Rasheed tries to beat her, a bold move that no one has taken before. The Taliban takeover has hurt the family economically and has forced them to put Aziza in a orphanage in order to save money. Laila's only happiness is taken away from her, but nothing stops her from visiting her daughter, not even the rules the Taliban has set for the women in Kabul. She does not care if she gets beaten up when she is caught without a man by her side on the streets. She does not want her family to fall apart during this hard time. I could not help to think, WHY ARE WOMEN BEING TREATED LIKE THIS? I thought about the fact that this novel was depicting everything in Kabul during that time, so does that mean women were actually beaten up for not following the Taliban's rules? Later on someone pays Laila an unexpected visit, Tariq. It turns out that Rasheed lied because Tariq never died. He lost his family as well and was put in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Rasheed is upset by his visit and forbids Laila from seeing him. One day Mariam got so fed up of Rasheed's rules and beatings that left them in pain for weeks that she killed Rasheed and to the Taliban, an unforgettable crime. The prize was Laila's freedom, but the price to achieve that was Mariam's life. My favorite thing about this book would have to be the way the author included Farsi in his novel. While describing a situation or someone Hosseini would always include a word that was written in Farsi. For example, whenever Rasheed felt like addressing his wives in a loving way, he would call them hamshira. Sometimes I was able to figure what the words meant and sometimes I wasn't able to but I think this writing style adds a different kind of flavor to the novel. I really enjoyed reading this book because it taught me so much about the history of Kabul, Afghanistan. Not only did I learn about the political scene but I also got to learn what the people went through, especially the women. The Soviet Invasion took away their families and the Taliban took their right to live freely. It was a very powerful book and I'm glad I read it because it exposed me to things I had never heard of.