A Thousand Splendid Suns Critique - Book Report/Review Example

A Thousand Splendid Suns" - Review The novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, published in the year 2007 by an Afghan- American Khaled Hosseini was among the bestselling novels. It reached the second position in Amazon.com’s best sellers list. This book shipped more than three million copies and continued to maintain its number one position for fifteen weeks in New York Times bestseller list. This work unfolds a deeply moving storyline of faith, family, friendship and salvation through love. The storyline revolves around the characters of two women, Mariam and Laila, who were brought forcefully together by war, by loss and by fate. Khaled Hosseini was born in the year 1965 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Hosseini’s father was a diplomat in Afghan Foreign ministry, and due to the nature of service they had to travel a lot. In the year 1980, when the Hosseini’s father was deputed in Paris, the Soviet Army occupied Afghanistan. So, instead of returning from Paris to Afghanistan, the United States granted a political asylum to the Hosseini family. Thus settled in San Jose, California, the family struggled to adjust and fit into the new culture. Khaled earned his medical degree in the year 1993. Practicing as a physician, Khaled Hosseini was passionate towards writing. In his first novel, The Kite Runner (2003), we find a vivid depiction of his memories of Afghanistan prior to the Soviet’s invasion. A similar essence is also portrayed in his second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, published in the year 2007. This book was written after his visit to Afghanistan to have a first-hand experience and examination of the nation’s current situation. The title of the book A Thousand Splendid Suns is a quote from a poem by the 17th Century Persian poet Saib-e-Tabrizi. This phrase has been used twice in the novel, once when Laila’s family was preparing to leave Kabul with her family, and again where we find when she finally decided to go to Pakistan from Kabul. The title is being echoed towards the end where we see Mariam has occupied a place in Laila’s heart, where she stands outs with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns. AThousand Splendid Suns revolves around the two central characters, Mariam and Laila. The novel mainly has four major parts. In the first part, the focus of the narrative is mainly on Mariam. In the second portion, the storyline revolves around Laila. The third part mainly highlights the relation between Mariam and Laila, whereas in the fourth part we see more of Laila. The story begins with Mariam, who is the illegitimate child of Nana and Jalil, and she lived on the outskirts of the city, Herat in a ‘Kolba’ (Hosseini, 3). Jalil was a wealthy person who lives in the town and visited Mariam on every Thursdays. He used to tell Mariam lots of stories and he also adored her. On the eve of her fifteenth birthday, Jalil promised to take her out to watch Pinocchio, however he never showed up. Annoyed with him when Mariam visited his house, he refused to meet her. On her return to her hut, Mariam found that her mother, Nana hanged herself out of the fear that she might have left her mother all alone. Astounded Mariam was taken to reside at her father’s place where her marriage was being solemnized with a shoe shop owner, Rasheed. She became pregnant number of times, but every time she failed to give a successful birth. Gradually, her husband’s approach changed towards her, and became more and more abusive. On the other hand, a girl called Laila lived in their neighborhood with her family. Her elder bothers died fighting for the land. Hence Fariba, Laila’s mother, never wanted to leave the land for which her son died fighting. Tarique, who was a close friend of Laila, decides to leave Kabul as it was gradually becoming impossible to continue living among the rocket attacks. The emotional farewell between the close friends ended up in making love. Laila waited for Tariq, “A week passed, but there was still no sign of Tariq. Then another week came out and went” (Hosseini, 123). But he never came back. Soon after that, Laila’s family also decides to evacuate the place. As they were packing, a rocket hit their house, and Laila eventually was the sole survivor of that incident. After the incident Laila exclaimed” It hurts. It hurts to breathe. It hurts everywhere” (Hosseini, 189). She woke up at Mariam and Rasheed’s place, and was recovering there, when one day she heard about Tariq’s death. Emotionally shattered, Laila decided to marry Rasheed as she was already pregnant with Tarique’s child. Rasheed also agrees to marry her with the expectation to have his own child. But unfortunately Laila gave birth to a girl child, Aziza which disappointed Rasheed a lot. It was during this time when Mariam and Laila became very good friends. They shared much of their feeling, lives and protected each other. In one such incident, Marium said Laila, “The other night, when he … Nobody’s ever stood up for me before” (Hosseini, 243). Both of them planned to run away from Rasheed and wanted to leave Kabul as well. But due to the strict Talibani law, they failed miserably and ended up getting beaten up by Rasheed. He tortured the women in an inhumane way and deprived them from having water which almost resulted in killing Aziza. After a few years, Laila gave birth to Zalmai, Rasheed’s son. The living condition in Kabul worsened, due to the rise of Talibani and the severe drought. Rasheed’s workshop was destroyed, and he was compelled to join job which were not suitable for him. Laila was forced to send Aziza to an orphanage due to the deteriorating condition of the family. Not long after that, one day Tarique appeared outside Rasheed’s house. Laila was overwhelmed by his presence, and the two decided to reunite. But when Rasheed returned home that day, Zalmai complained bitterly about Laila which enraged him. He savagely started beating Laila and was about to strangle her to death, when Mariam came to the rescue of Laila. She hit him twice with a shovel that resulted in his death. Later, she confesses killing him, while Laila and Tarique fled to Pakistan with their children. Laila and Tarique got married and started a new life of their own. Both of them worked in a hotel and used to live in a hut behind that. Slowly when the things were normalizing back home when the couple decided to return to Afghanistan. On their way, the couple decides to stop by the place where Mariam resided previously. They came by a package which was kept by Jalil containing a videotape of Pinocchio, some amount of money, and a letter confessing his every sins and how much he loved his daughter. By the end of the story we find Laila and Tariq returned and fixed up the orphanage. Once again Laila became pregnant and decides that if it’s a girl they will name her Mariam. The basic theme of the book, Thousand Splendid Suns revolves around struggle of two women- Mariam and Laila, the central character of the story. When Mariam asked Mullah Faizullah whether she can attend school also depicts their hopes for a better future, and also how women are still struggling for basic rights like education. Again, when Laila and Tarique left a relatively better life in Pakistan to return to Afghanistan with the onset of new powers, also depicts is hope for improvement with change and also a person’s attachment with his or her native land. The other symbol that the writer used was the depiction of shame faced by Jalil for his illegitimate child and by Rasheed for not having a male child. The narrative is a human representation of bonding between Mariam and Laila, for women education, comparison of a socially formulated marriage versus true love, and finally about pregnancy and children. The main characters that we find in the story are that of two women Mariam and Laila. Mariam is an illegitimate daughter who suffers from the shame of her illegitimacy all through her childhood. Later in life, due to her critical health condition she was unable to carry her child despite being pregnant number of times. Due to this unfortunate reality, her husband made her life a living hell, and she was harassed every moment. But finally she landed up having a friend, Laila, with whom she shared her joys and sorrows and eventually willingly gave her life for the sake of a better life for her only friend. Laila is an intelligent and a beautiful girl coming from a well educated family, and was much younger to Mariam. She became attached to Marriam after her marriage with Rasheed. Both of them shared a loving bonding, but she was destined to live a happy life with her love, Tarique. Laila and Tarique escaped to Pakistan, where they lived a contented life with their children. By the end of the story she returned to Kabul, the land where they belong to. Her feelings for Mariam were reflected in her decision to name her daughter after her. In conclusion, it can be said that the book is all about hopes and the struggle. Small hopes to improve the future often get squashed when the harsh realities of life take its hold. The books centers on anxieties about the lives of both the women, and how the turn of events allowed them to come out of it. Hosseini adopted a narrative approach where the story is presented by a third person. His unique style, which is simple and attractive, is very successful in captivating the readers who compelled to read till the end. The Thousand Splendid Suns ends with a note of affection where we see Laila once again becomes pregnant and naming her daughter Mariam. These two women, despite being wives of a single man, shared a close friendship. It all ended in one of them sacrificing her life for the sake of the other’s life and happiness. References Hosseini, K. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Bloomsbury, 2007, Read More