A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini

I loved The Kite Runner.  Thinking about parts of it still chokes me up.  It made me think about the meanings of friendship and character, loyalty and love.  I vividly remember sitting on my deck peacefully reading The Kite Runner and then sucking in my breath and bawling over what I had just read.  Luckily only my husband was witness to that full-on ugly cry moment.  I had to stop reading because: 1) the emotion was overwhelming, 2) I had to take a moment to absorb what I had just read and, lastly, 3) I had to explain to my husband, between hiccuping sobs, what the heck I was crying about.  (The movie adaptation was such a disappointment because it failed to convey the emotion that made the book so breathtaking.)  Halfway through The Kite Runner, I bought A Thousand Splendid Suns, ready to immerse myself again in a wonderful story.  Despite several starts, I hadn't made it past the second page.  I think it was the dedication "to the women of Afghanistan" that held me back.  I was worried Hosseini might be attempting An Important Book and that gave me pause.  In an effort to outsmart myself, I took this book and this book alone on a six-hour car trip.  I resisted for a few hours before boredom got the better of me.  It took a chapter or two before I was fully engaged, but once that happened it was lasting.

A Thousand Splendid Suns tells the story of Laila and Mariam, but also in truth it is the story of "the women of Afghanistan." The story begins in 1959 and continues through the recent history of that land, from Soviet invasion to Taliban rule to the present.  At times the story feels contrived and the ending is perhaps overly idealistic and idealized.  It's hard to fault Hosseini for this, though.  The love and affection he feels for Afghanistan is obvious on every page and is conveyed skillfully to the reader.  One of the most striking aspects of the book is his ability to make a changing Afghanistan come alive for the reader.  You'll feel that you've been there, that you've felt the heat, smelled the flowers and the aromas of the food, and experienced the anonymity found behind a burqa.  I recommend this book, but I recommend The Kite Runner more.