A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini Book Review

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini 

Book Review

The novel ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ which is a best seller tells the story of two Afghan women who learn to work together and support each other amidst the struggles they face in the war-torn Kabul. The novel is written by Khaled Hosseini who is himself an Afghan immigrant. The book is divided into four parts.

In the first part of the book we see the early life of Mariam. Mariam is a young girl who is born in Herat out of an illegitimate relationship. Her mother is cast away, after the family of her lover finds out about the illegitimate child. Jalil is the father of Mariam and inspite of rejecting her mother and her, he comes to visit Mariam on a weekly basis. The stories that Jalil tells Mariam on his weekly visits are so captivating that she begins to believe him more than her mother. Nana, the name by which Mariam calls her mother, loves Mariam but does not show it explicitly. She constantly insults her daughter calling her a harami, a word that remains with Mariam all through her life. For one of her birthdays, Mariam tells Jalil to take her to the theatre he owns so that she could watch the movie Pinocchio with him which he promises to do. However, on the day they had planned to go Jalil does not turn up. And so, Mariam travels to the main city Herat in order to meet her father. But, when she gets there she realizes the truth because of which her father sends her back to the kolba where she stays with her Nana. But when they realized that her mother has committed suicide because Mariam went to Herat, Jalil is forced to bring her back into his house. It is not long before, Mariam is married off to the ugly and untidy widower Rasheed who had lost his wife and then his son leaving him alone. Mariam goes to live in Kabul with her husband, Rasheed. Mariam is however distraught because she could never say good bye to the moolah of the place who was her teacher when she had to learn the verses of the Quran. In the first few days, Mariam is treated quite well by Rasheed. The treatment gets even better when she gets pregnant. However, all this changes when she suffers a miscarriage. From then on, her nightmares of being treated as a harami come to haunt her again. Rasheed then shows her his true face as he beats her when he wishes to vent out his anger.

The second part of the book speaks of Laila, a girl who is fifteen years younger than Mariam. Mariam and Laila’s family are neighbours in Kabul where the Soviets are ruling. Laila’s mother is not very happy with her. However, her father loves her dearly and wishes that she gets educated and learns to be modern. Laila is also infatuated by Tariq who had lost his leg when a mine exploded. Laila and Tariq grew up together but Laila never expressed her love to him. A few years later, when the Soviets are driven out by the rebel forces, things turn for the worse in Kabul. Laila’s brothers have been killed in the war and Tariq leaves for Pakistan with his mother and father due to the tensions rising in Kabul. When Laila’s parents also decide to leave for Pakistan, they are killed in an air strike which leaves Laila as an orphaned child.

The third part of the book narrates the budding relationship between Laila and Mariam. After surviving the bomb blast, Laila is taken in by Rasheed and Mariam. The only reason Rasheed wishes to take Laila in is that he can marry her and she in turn bears him a son. Mariam is in disagreement to this union but Laila quite readily agrees. In the first night after the marriage, Rasheed tries to get her impregnated which turns out to be successful. From then on, Laila is treated as the princess of the house and Mariam is side-lined to be the servant. However, when she gives birth to a girl, Rasheed is furious and treats her with scorn. From here on, Laila and Mariam start trying to support each other. The common link to their relationship is Laila’s daughter, Aziza. Laila tries to secretly run away from Kabul to Pakistan along with Mariam but they fail in their attempt. For this too, Rasheed catches them and treats them like ragdolls now that need to be thrown around. A few years later, Laila fives birth to a son who Rasheed loves immensely. Because of the bias between Aziza and Zalmai along with Rasheed’s ill-treatment, Laila is forced to send Aziza to a boarding school. During one of her weekly visits to the boarding school Laila meets Tariq who was thought to be dead. When Rasheed finds out about this he attempts to kill her, but Mariam comes to her rescue and kills him. As Laila flees to Pakistan along with Tariq, Mariam waits back so as to face the consequences of the crime she has committed.

In the final part of the book, Laila goes to Herat along with Tariq and her two children so that she can uncover more about Mariam’s childhood. It is over here where Laila uncovers the truth behind Mariam’s childhood. She then returns to Kabul along with her family and helps in setting up a school for the children in the same building where Aziza was sent to as a boarder.

The main reason why Khaled Hosseini penned down this story was to highlight the ill-treatment of women in Afghanistan. He goes on to say that there are many women like Laila and Mariam who are being abused by their husbands and being looked down by society because of their feminine gender. This message is brought out very beautifully in this novel. Khaled is able to bring out the personality of the two characters in his narration of the story that is filled with suspense and emotion. He is able to get the reader involved into the feelings of the two central characters with his peculiar style of dedicating every alternate chapter to the one of the main characters. With an inclusion of some of the local words like kolba, jinn and moolah the reader really gets into the environment where the story is based on. He is successful in making the reader see a situation through the eyes of the character. It is a story that is sure to move the heart of the reader and is definitely worth the time spent reading it. I believe that it is surely meant to be placed under the ‘classics’ section.