A Thousand Splendid Suns

by Khaled Hosseini

Started: 31 August 2007
Finished: 2 September 2007

What was I just writing about not getting to read a book in a couple of days? I certainly didn't expect to repeat the process again so soon. But then I didn't expect to run across a book like A Thousand Splendid Suns either.

Last year my sister, Patti, recommended Mr. Hosseini's first book, The Kite Runner, which I kept meaning to read but never seemed to get around to. What the set of circumstances were which finally pushed me into reading it, I can't recall just now.

There used to be 3 things which drove me to reach for a new tome:

1.) I was getting nowhere with my current book;

2.) I watched a movie or heard about something which made me curious to learn more about a person or subject; and/or

3.) I'd finished my last book.

And while I was still homeschooling my children, the 3rd reason was usually the last and least likely of the reasons, sad to say.

I must confess The Kite Runner was nothing like I expected it to be, based on the title and the type of books my sister usually recommends. However, since it would merit a blog post in itself -- which I might do when I reread it again, it definitely being a book worth reading twice -- I won't say much about it except that it deals with father-son relationships caught in the web of the political, social, religious and historical turmoil which has devastated Afghanistan for the last half century.

From his brief biography on the back cover, Mr. Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and moved to the United States in 1980. In 2006 he was named a U.S. envoy to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. It would seem from these sparse facts that our author writes from a deep love of country. That was my impression after reading TKR; it was confirmed upon reading A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Every once in awhile I read a book which reminds me why I am an avid reader; not just your average run-of-the-mill reader, but a serious reader. If one is a serious reader, it is not for mere pleasure, nor for idle curiosity, nor even for the collection of information and knowledge, however enjoyable and worthy those activities may be--but for the highest of all human endeavors--to Know. To See. To Love. Or at least to aspire to those lofty aspirations, because I do not think we achieve them in reading, we only seek after them.

A Thousand Splendid Suns starts off very quietly. It begins in Afghanistan at approximately the same time frame (1950's) as TKR, where and when our author seems to feel at home. The difference being that this story focuses on a young girl. For awhile we follow her life. Then abruptly we leave her and begin to follow another young girl. Frustration! But eventually, Mr. Hosseini ties the two girls'--grown into women--stories together and from then on these two women are bound together by a mystical connection more powerful than blood, which their continued suffering only strengthens.

I cannot do justice to ATSS by any description of the story, except to say that I could not put it down and it moved me constantly to tears. It's a story of almost unbelievable misery--of watching your homeland and everyone you love exploited, tortured, and/or destroyed. Yet in the face of this cruelty and wanton violence, there is gentleness, new life and a sweet budding friendship. TKR moves out of Afghanistan; ATSS remains in Kabul. We watch the city begin its deterioration after the Soviet invasion, fall into further disorder with the in-fighting of the Mujahideen and descend to utter chaos when the Taliban implement their regime of extremist misogyny.

If I were a high school English teacher, I would have every young American girl -- and the young boys, but especially the girls -- read this book. Just as I wanted my own daughters to watch the movie, Osama, disturbing as it is, I am giving them this book for the same reason. We can never truly appreciate our freedoms until we see how much we have to lose.

With no reservations, despite the violence--because it serves a purpose in this case--I give this book an unequivocal 5 stars. I'd give it a higher rating if I could. Excellent! Read it! Soon!

*****