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A review by sarahs2real
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
5.0
(warning: slight spoilers)
how must one rate a book that has no faults in it? how must one even dare to give a perfect book anything bellow five stars?
it will forever shock me that a man wrote a story that so beautifully and painfully captured the pain of not only being a woman, but also a Afghan woman during the Taliban.
Mariam, the first wife of Rasheed. Everywhere I look she is there. When I recite the Quran I am reminded of her. When I pray I am reminded of her.
Laila, the second and much younger wife of Rasheed. Strong and un compliant.
A mother. A daughter. A student.
I feel like I’m writing a dumb letter right now, but in essence, this book captures the purity of love - sisterly, maternal, and paternal.
It paints a picture of resistance, when again and again, a woman is beat by a man who she had no other choice to marry, and yet fights back;
The pains of motherhood - to marry a man decades older than you so you are not stoned, to scream another into this world with no pain meds, and under the reign of the Taliban; To lie and cheat and steal; To sacrifice and come close to death over and over over again, and the only reason you are holding on is because you are a mother — because to be a mother is to love, and to love is to fight.
it follows the story of 14 year old Laila as she is orphaned and made to marry Rasheed, a man already married to Mariam, a woman who literally watched as Laila was born.
Through the tiptoes and heartbreak of miscarriage, and the wails of grief; through the sisterhood of one woman letting another rest on her lap as she cleans the wounds of the other; Through DECADES of hard labour;
This is not a story someone can just laugh over. It is one that NEVER leaves you. It is a story of love, of pain, and of resistance, even if it only follows the life of two women forced to clean up over a man. The harsh realities of rape, and superiority, and for your religion to be twisted and re written to suite your own special dose of torture.
I cried, and cried, and cried, and i think I really need a friend who i can rant to about this book, because even years later when I see this on my bookshelf, all i will be able to do even then is cry.
how must one rate a book that has no faults in it? how must one even dare to give a perfect book anything bellow five stars?
it will forever shock me that a man wrote a story that so beautifully and painfully captured the pain of not only being a woman, but also a Afghan woman during the Taliban.
Mariam, the first wife of Rasheed. Everywhere I look she is there. When I recite the Quran I am reminded of her. When I pray I am reminded of her.
Laila, the second and much younger wife of Rasheed. Strong and un compliant.
A mother. A daughter. A student.
I feel like I’m writing a dumb letter right now, but in essence, this book captures the purity of love - sisterly, maternal, and paternal.
It paints a picture of resistance, when again and again, a woman is beat by a man who she had no other choice to marry, and yet fights back;
The pains of motherhood - to marry a man decades older than you so you are not stoned, to scream another into this world with no pain meds, and under the reign of the Taliban; To lie and cheat and steal; To sacrifice and come close to death over and over over again, and the only reason you are holding on is because you are a mother — because to be a mother is to love, and to love is to fight.
it follows the story of 14 year old Laila as she is orphaned and made to marry Rasheed, a man already married to Mariam, a woman who literally watched as Laila was born.
Through the tiptoes and heartbreak of miscarriage, and the wails of grief; through the sisterhood of one woman letting another rest on her lap as she cleans the wounds of the other; Through DECADES of hard labour;
This is not a story someone can just laugh over. It is one that NEVER leaves you. It is a story of love, of pain, and of resistance, even if it only follows the life of two women forced to clean up over a man. The harsh realities of rape, and superiority, and for your religion to be twisted and re written to suite your own special dose of torture.
I cried, and cried, and cried, and i think I really need a friend who i can rant to about this book, because even years later when I see this on my bookshelf, all i will be able to do even then is cry.