Deepika Kumari

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years - from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding - that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives - the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness - are inextricable from the history playing out around them. The story centres around Mariam, an illegitimate child of Jalil, a local businessman of the town Herat. From her mother to everyone she knows constantly reminds her of the fact that she wasn’t supposed to be born, she was a mistake. Mariam doesn’t understand this and, in her childhood, she dreams of going to school. Over the years all Mariam seeks, is to be accepted and be appreciated. She never learns to stand up for herself or fight for her freedom. “A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated…” Another major character in the story is Laila, her father was a modern man. He encourages her to get an education and always stand up for herself. He calls Laila the kind of woman Afghanistan will need, because she is brave and kind. Laila’s story explores a lot of taboos such as premarital sex and indifference towards the girl child in the family. What’s truly amazing about Hosseini’s writing is the depiction of the war and its effects through these characters. The story describes the state of Afghanistan when soviets invaded the country, when Babrak Karmal formed a puppet government and how the Taliban took control of the country. All these events are precisely described in the form of fictional story. It has both; the drama a reader needs, along with some truth to them. This is what truly makes it a page turner. “yet love can move people to act in unexpected ways and move them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with startling heroism” The book explores Laila and Mariam’s relationship and their courage to stay strong in an unfair world. It sends out the message that even when life seems unkind, love and compassion can do miracles. And when we make a sacrifice for love, it doesn’t really feel like a sacrifice, it feels like a choice… a decision.