A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Housseini is a very emotional and powerful book. It takes place in Afghanistan mainly, during the war. It tells the story of two women: The first is Mariam; who is a harami, born to the wealthy Jalil Khan and his housekeeper. Upon her mom's suicide, she is forced to marry Rasheed, a man older than her. The second woman is Laila, born in an educated family. She marries Rasheed later on, after her parents both die, in an attempt to save the child she's carrying from her childhood friend/ lover, Tariq. Mariam is jealous and unkind to Laila at first, stating that Laila stole her husband from her- despite the fact that Rasheed is mean and unfair. After Laila tries to stop Rasheed from beating Mariam once, the two women become close.
The book sheds light on the problems those women face: from wanting to be loved, to being oppressed both by their husband and the Talibans, and being treated badly. I recommend this book, but not to everyone. It is loaded with emotions and can make you cry. If you're into emotional books, then this is the one for you.
Quotes from the book (in no particular order):
- "Marriage can wait, education cannot"
- "A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated"
- "Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting"
- "You see, some things I can teach you. Some you learn from books. But there are things that, well, you have to see and feel"
- "But if you have a book that needs urgent reading,' she said, 'then Hakim is your man"
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