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A review by larkais
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was a really beautiful and sad novel about two women caught up in the Afghanistan wars. Both Mariam and Laila were written with such depth and love.
Mariam's childhood and relationship with her parents were terribly sad. Nana wished for a miscarriage while Jalil didn't want to publicly acknowledge that Mariam existed at all.
Now a list of quotes/spoilers
The children of strangers get ice cream. What do you get Mariam? Stories of ice cream.
There was a sort of intergenerational trauma in this story where Nana lived unhappily and passed on the burden of living to Mariam where she suicided the day Mariam went out to meet Jalil. Laila and Aziza also faced a brunt of Mariam's unhappiness early in their relationship.
There was a brief sort of joy when Mariam thought the arranged marriage was going to be okay: "Nana had been right about Jalil's gifts. They had been half hearted gifts of penance, insincere corrupt gestures meant more for his own appeasement that hers. This shawl, Mariam saw, was a true gift".
Each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman ... as reminder of how women like us suffer. How quietly we must endure all that falls upon us.
Laila never would have believed that a human body could withstand this much beating, this viciously and regularly but keep functioning.
I liked the islamic flamingo with water colour pants story! It was a light hearted break... after we got the revelation that Tariq never died!!! What I was screaming internally.
When Mariam swung the shovel and killed Rasheed, wow, I'm glad that she was the one to do it in the end. It was powerful that she saved Laila's life and ended their suffering. There was no other light hearted moment for Mariam.
All the call backs at the end of the story were so sad. The signing of her life away for the second time, the visit to her childhood outside of town and even to the Pinocchio movie (Jalil's letter/cinema call back was very sad).
I'm happy that Mariam's sacrifice gave Laila a better chance at life. She became a teacher and Aziza got to go to school. It's all wonderful especially if Laila has another baby girl, she already knew what to name her.
Mariam's childhood and relationship with her parents were terribly sad. Nana wished for a miscarriage while Jalil didn't want to publicly acknowledge that Mariam existed at all.
Now a list of quotes/spoilers
There was a sort of intergenerational trauma in this story where Nana lived unhappily and passed on the burden of living to Mariam where she suicided the day Mariam went out to meet Jalil. Laila and Aziza also faced a brunt of Mariam's unhappiness early in their relationship.
There was a brief sort of joy when Mariam thought the arranged marriage was going to be okay: "Nana had been right about Jalil's gifts. They had been half hearted gifts of penance, insincere corrupt gestures meant more for his own appeasement that hers. This shawl, Mariam saw, was a true gift".
Each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman ... as reminder of how women like us suffer. How quietly we must endure all that falls upon us.
Laila never would have believed that a human body could withstand this much beating, this viciously and regularly but keep functioning.
I liked the islamic flamingo with water colour pants story! It was a light hearted break... after we got the revelation that Tariq never died!!! What I was screaming internally.
When Mariam swung the shovel and killed Rasheed, wow, I'm glad that she was the one to do it in the end. It was powerful that she saved Laila's life and ended their suffering. There was no other light hearted moment for Mariam.
All the call backs at the end of the story were so sad. The signing of her life away for the second time, the visit to her childhood outside of town and even to the Pinocchio movie (Jalil's letter/cinema call back was very sad).
I'm happy that Mariam's sacrifice gave Laila a better chance at life. She became a teacher and Aziza got to go to school. It's all wonderful especially if Laila has another baby girl, she already knew what to name her.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Violence
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, and Police brutality