A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini , author of The Kite Runner, has allowed us another look into the the hearts of the Afghan people. From a country with a proud and rich culture to a war torn and crumbling society he takes us through the disintegration and hopeful rebuilding through the eyes of a family. I am always surprised to find a novel written well by a man from a woman's point of view. While I don't think he entirely masters the complexity of consciousness of a woman's soul, his effort is commendable. With the characters of Mariam and Laili, he gives us the gut-wrenching efforts of two women and their survival, loyalty, motherhood, friendship, integrity and endurance during the jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny of Afghanistan.

Marian is the scorned illegitimate harami daughter of a wealthy but conformist businessman, raised by a defeated mother and forced to marry a brutal 40 year old man at the age of fifteen. Laili is the daughter of a dysfunctional and grieving mother and an intellectual but accepting father with high hopes for her college career and future. Twenty years after Mariam and Rasheed's marriage and after Laila's family and friends are killed, Laili's choices in the war torn country are starvation, prostitution or to accept being the 14 year old second wife of Rasheed and the housemate of a scornful Mariam. Rasheed's violent misogyny is a tough read but is reflective of and supported by the Taliban rule. A Thousand Splendid Suns shines a light on the history of the country and the repression of women represented by the burqa and their invisible lives under a veil.

At Khaled Hosseini's request, please visit UNHCR, the United Nations High commission for Refugees where Hosseini volunteers as a US envoy.