Tuesday 19 September 2017

A Thousand Splendid Suns .. By Khaled Hosseini




Let me present the review of yet another story from the snow-peaked and the vast mountains of Afghanistan. Like its barrenness, this tale also speaks about the tortured lives of two women who suffered at the hands of fate.

Khaled Hosseini has amazed us again with the brilliance of his writing and story-telling ability. It is astonishing to find yourself in such pain just by reading stories of tormented souls and the empathy that you feel towards the characters is unbelievable; that's the kind of narration is what Hosseini is famous for. 

It is the story of an illegitimate child, Mariam, who suffers from the stigma surrounding her birth along with the abuse that she faces throughout her marriage. Laila, born a generation later, is comparatively privileged during her youth until their lives intersect when she is forced to accept the marriage proposal from Mariam's husband.

The story was incredibly sad and the writing, as I mentioned earlier, had the power to stomp all over your heart without mercy. It is not the kind of book that you would want to peruse while traveling because this might cause intense emotional stress or bewilderment to you. You would rather read this story on normal working days, as it will make your stressful life seem like a paradise. 

I would also like to make a comparison between this book and "The Kite Runner". It may seem to you that both the stories had striking similarities, in terms of war damage, family spectacle and social hierarchies, but I feel that Kite Runner's story had far better essence than this one in terms of character simplicity and grafting of history.

I would say that the author did a great job on both the books, that is to say, well thought-out characters and picturesque description of the mountainous views. Even though the story was molded based on bomb rubble on the surface with traditions and family norms in the core, it clearly relates the strength and courage of Afghan women in the face of the cruelty of life.

Happy Reading!!!