Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini

76 reviews

mrdonalddarkie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Xenophobia, Miscarriage, Murder, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Infertility, and Suicide

lorie266's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Injury/injury detail, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Ableism, Abortion, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Violence, War, Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Infertility, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gun violence, and Sexual assault

larissasbookclub's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

BOOK REVIEW

A Thousand Splendid Suns / Khalid Hosseini

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

STUNNING! such an eye opening read for me and I literally felt so many emotions - happy, sad, angry, ashamed 😮‍💨

I enjoyed the dual POV in this one, it was interesting seeing some parts of the book from both Mariam and Layla’s POV, especially when Layla first became part of the family. 

upon finishing this one, I sat on the floor crying because it just made me so sad, but also happy because despite all the grief and loss that is experienced by our two FMC’s, they still hold so much hope and love in their hearts. this review truly cannot do this book the justice it deserves, but I hope you choose to give it a go and if you do, please let me know your thoughts! 

reading books like A Thousand Splendid Suns and Pomegranate & Fig definitely makes me grateful to live in a country where women have rights and can make our own choices for our bodies, careers and futures. it always hurts my heart to read stories like these, but they are so important to read and share, because there are so many people who don’t have the same benefits and advantages as us. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Child death, War, Death of parent, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Gun violence, Grief, and Domestic abuse

itsswechchha's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

I'd started this book expecting it to be as good as "The kite runner " if not better. But now that I've finished reading,  I'm not entirely sure about how I feel.

This book follows the journey of Mariam (an illegitimate daughter of a rich Herati businessman) who soon after her mother's death is married to Rasheed, a Kabuli shoemaker almost 30 yrs older than her. The story follows a series of misfortunes that occur throughout Mariam's life and how almost 2 decades later her life intertwines with a 15 yr old girl Laila. This book takes place in Afghanistan during a period of high political instability and ongoing war and I'd definitely not expected it to be an easy read. But this book was way darker than I'd imagined.  There were a lot of graphic scenes of domestic violence and marital rape. I had to skip few paragraphs and put the book down multiple times because I couldn't seem to be able to continue reading. Also since the relationship between Mariam and Laila is such an important aspect of the book,  I'd expected their bond to develop slowly over time. But all of it just happened in an instant and I found it very unconvincing. I wish the writer had put more effort in highlighting the beautiful moments between Mariam and Laila and Mariam and Laila's kids instead of focusing on adding disturbing details of abuse. That would've made the story much less traumatizing and hopeful and the ending somewhat more impactful. By the time I'd reached the end of the book, I was just so mentally drained to feel anything for the characters and I was just relieved that it was finally over. 

I do however believe that "A thousand splendid suns" is an important book but it's definitely not something I'd prefer to read again. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

taroroot's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i could not cry enough about this book. 

Spoiler

"Learn this now and learn it well. Like a compass facing north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam." im shattered im in fucking tears im unwell

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Miscarriage, Injury/injury detail, Death of parent, Cursing, and Child abuse

Minor: Suicide

random19379's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Violence, War, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Medical content, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Alcohol, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit and Abortion

macglass8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Suicide, War, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, and Emotional abuse

aliwhaley's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This book is unrelentingly sad. It doesn’t romanticise pain and hardship, which I appreciate, it looks it in the face and points out how hard it is. But, it made for harrowing and difficult reading. It didn’t necessarily need to make a bigger point aside from ‘the Afghan war is terrible’, but its worth saying that it didn’t make a bigger point. I feel like the only thing I learnt from this is that we in the West need to be more compassionate towards the people in Kabul. It felt very specific, it didn’t make me think about anything outside of the situation it describes, and I think that is something of a fault.

More harrowing still is that, this was written in 2007, and the author obviously didn’t know that American troops would pull out of Afghanistan in 2021. That made the ending harder to swallow.

The first 150 pages feel like a preamble until the women move in together, and then the plot starts. After that, the pace picks up and we have something to root for. I felt the first 100 pages dragged a bit.

It does a good job of conjuring a world and drawing you into it. I cared about the characters, I cared what happened, and the villain is believable and terrifying.

But, I give this book three stars because of the slow start and the violent middle. It’s worth having read to learn more about Afghanistan, but it is not an enjoyable experience.

I think my qualm with this book is that it’s important, but it’s not interesting. There’s just something missing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Violence, War, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Abortion and Body horror

Minor: Child death

lajoy's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Abortion

carmineslamp's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Miriam. Miriam. Miriam.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gun violence, Rape, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Miscarriage and Misogyny

Spoiler

it's been a while since i've read this, but I'm pretty sure one character dies "on screen"