“Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same.” – A Thousand Splendid Suns.
This book introduced me to the author Khaled Hosseini. Having never read any of his books before, I did not know what to expect when I started reading it. The book does not have a mainstream plot and was nothing like I’d ever read before. Set in Afghanistan, it follows the stories of two women – Mariam and Laila – and their struggle with the many difficulties that life throws at them.
The book is divided into four parts, the first two focusing on Mariam and Laila’s lives separately, the third intertwining the two women’s lives and the fourth part – the only part written in present tense – focuses solely on Laila’s life, again. Mariam is an illegitimate child whose father is ashamed of her and, when her Mother commits suicide, marries her to a man twice her age. Laila, on the other hand, lives a privileged youth until the lives of the two women intersect and they have to face their hardships together.
Hosseini is a master with words. Throughout the book, he portrays the adversities of women living in a male-dominated society in a very realistic manner. The book does not sugar-coat anything and even brings to light issues such as domestic violence. It follows the transition in the characters’ lives as Afghanistan goes from being a beautiful, peaceful country to a battle field with infrastructure being destroyed and innocent civilians dying. While the governments and Taliban forces fight their battles, the two women are fighting theirs inside the four walls of their house as they continue to try and find comfort and joy through the gloom of a war ravaged country, each with a glimmer of hope still present inside them.
What I love about the book is that it is very vivid in its descriptions and in the way that the emotions are brought across to the readers. At various points in the book, I was actually overcome with agony and grief and had to remind myself that it was just a book and that the events were not real.
Hosseini keeps the story tangible; there are no happy endings for the characters, there are no happy re-unions or walking off into the sunset, nor are there long-winded apologies followed by tears of happiness and hugs; rather Hosseini conveys a very important message to his readers that life does not always go the way we plan. Sometimes we have to accept the consequences that life brings and to try and make the best of what we have.
Hosseini writes in an unassuming way, this however, seems to be the perfect style to narrate the very complex lives of both Mariam and Laila. This book will pull on all your heartstrings and leave you with tears, as he takes you on the journey of the two women. This passage encompasses heroism, the sacrifices that accompany love, the conflict of war and the many tragedies that some people experience in life.