A Thousand Splendid Suns
Article summary
After 103 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and with four million copies of The Kite Runner shipped, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today.
Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.
Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.
A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.
It's difficult to imagine a harder first act to follow than The Kite Runner: a debut novel by an unknown writer about a country many readers knew little about that has gone on to have over four million copies in print worldwide. But when preview copies of Khaled Hosseini's second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, started circulating at Amazon.com, readers reacted with a unanimous enthusiasm that few of us could remember seeing before. As special as The Kite Runner was, those readers said, A Thousand Splendid Suns is more so, bringing Hosseini's compassionate storytelling and his sense of personal and national tragedy to a tale of two women that is weighted equally with despair and grave hope.
We wanted to spread the word on the book as widely, and as soon, as we could. See below for an exclusive excerpt from A Thousand Splendid Suns and early reviews of the book from some of our top customer reviewers.--The Editors
| An Exclusive Excerpt from A Thousand Splendid Suns |
We have arranged with the publisher to make an exclusive excerpt of A Thousand Splendid Suns available on Amazon.com. Click here to read a scene from the novel. It's not the opening scene, but rather one from a crucial moment later in the book when Mariam, one of the novel's two main characters, steps into a new role.
| Early Buzz from Amazon.com Top Reviewers |
We queried our top 100 customer reviewers as of March 6, 2007, and asked them to read A Thousand Splendid Suns and share their thoughts. We've included these early reviews below in the order they were received. For the sake of space, we've only included a brief excerpt of each reviewer's response, but each review is available for reading in its entirety by clicking the "Read the review" link.
Joanna Daneman: 
"His style is deceptively simple and clear, the characters drawn deftly and swiftly, his themes elemental and huge. This is a brilliant writer and I look forward to more of his work." Read Joanna Daneman's review
Seth J. Frantzman: "Khaled Hosseini has done it again with 'A Thousand Splendid Sons', presenting a new, dashing and dark tale of two generations of women trapped in a loveless marriage, bracketed by great events." Read Seth J. Frantzman's review
Donald Mitchell: "Khaled Hosseini has succeeded in capturing many important historical and contemporary themes in a way that will make your heart ache again and again. Why will your reaction be so strong? It’s because you’ll identify closely with the suffering of almost all the characters, a reaction that’s very rare to a modern novel." Read Donald Mitchell's review
Lawrance M. Bernabo: "All things considered, following up on a successful first novel is probably harder than coming up with the original effort and Hosseini could have rested on his laurels in the manner of Harper Lee, but as "A Thousand Splendid Suns" amply proves, this native of Kabul has more stories to tell about the land of Afghanistan." Read Lawrance M. Bernabo's review
Amanda Richards: "There are parts of this book that will have grown men surreptitiously blotting the tears that are on the verge of overflowing their ducts, and by the time you get to the middle, you won’t be able to put it down. Hosseini's simple but richly descriptive prose makes for an engrossing read, and in my opinion, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is among the best I have ever read. This is definitely not one to be missed." Read Amanda Richards's review
N. Durham: 
"All that being said, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is a bit more enjoyable than Hosseini’s previous "The Kite Runner", and once again he manages to give we readers another glimpse of a world that we know little about but frequently condemn and discard. However, if you were one of the many that for some reason absolutely loved "The Kite Runner", chances are that you'll love this as well." Read N. Durham's review
John Kwok: "Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is a genuine instant literary classic, and one destined to be remembered as one of 2007's best novels. It should be compared favorably to such legendary Russian novels like "War and Peace" and "Doctor Zhivago"." Read John Kwok's review
Thomas Duff: "Normally I'm more of an action-adventure type reader when it comes to novels and recreational reading. But I was given the chance to read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner), so I decided to try something out of my normal genre. I am *so* glad I did. This is a stunning and moving novel of life and love in Afghanistan over a 30 year period." Read Thomas Duff's review
Charles Ashbacher: "This book manages to simultaneously capture the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years and how women are treated in conservative Islamic societies.... In many ways it is a sad book, your heart goes out to these two women in their hopeless struggle to have a decent life with a brutal man in an unforgiving, intolerant society." Read Charles Ashbacher's review
W. Boudville: 
"Hosseini presents a piognant view into the recent tortured decades of the Afghan experience. From the 1970s, under a king, to the Soviet takeover, to the years of resistance. And then the rise and fall of the Taliban. An American reader will recognise many of the main political events. But to many Americans, Afghanistan and its peoples and religion remain an opaque and troubling mystery." Read W. Boudville's review
Mark Baker: "I tend to read plot heavy books, so this character study was a definite change of pace for me. I found the first half slow going at times, mainly because I knew where the story was going. Once I got into the second half, things really picked up. The ending was very bittersweet. I couldn't think of a better way to end it." Read Mark Baker's review
Grady Harp: "Hosseini takes us behind those walls for forty some years of Afghanistan's bloody history and while he does not spare us any of the descriptions of the terror that continues to besiege that country, he does offer us a story that speaks so tenderly about the fragile beauty of love and devotion and lasting impression people make on people." Read Grady Harp's review
Robert P. Beveridge: "When I was actively reading it, the pages kept turning, and more than once I found myself foregoing food or sleep temporarily to get in just one more chapter. When I had put it down, however, I felt no particular compulsion to pick it back up again. It's a good book, and a relatively well-written one, but it's not a great book. Enjoyable without leaving a lasting impression." Read Robert P. Beveridge's review
B. Marold: "While the events in Afghanistan and the wider world create a familiar framework for the stories of these two women, it is nothing more than a framework. The warp and weft of everyday life, and the interaction of the two women and their close relatives is the heartbeat of the story." Read B. Marold's review
Daniel Jolley: "Khaled Hosseini has written a majestic, sweeping, emotionally powerful story that provides the reader with a most telling window into Afghan society over the past thirty-odd years. It's also a moving story of friendship and sacrifice, giving Western readers a rare glimpse into the suffering and mistreatment of Afghan women that began long before the Taliban came to power." Read Daniel Jolley's review
Customer's review
Woes of Misogyny
I had no intention of reading this book because of the negative publicity surrounding Khaled Hosseini's previously published novel, The Kite Runner, and the movie based on it. I know some people who will not watch any movie with rape scenes. Unfortunately, I'm not that ideologically consistent, as my favorite director is Sergio Leone, and his films have a lot of rape scenes.
In any event, a local Muslima was leading a book discussion group which was planning to talk about A Thousand Splendid Suns, so I decided to read it and participate.
I should list reviews in major publications.
1. Christian Science Monitor, by Yvonne Zipp
2. New York Times, by Michiko Kakutani
3. London Times by Joan Smith
4. Washington Post by Johnathan Yardley
My first impression while reading this was its similarity to a film hindi, you know, where the twins are seperated at birth, one becomes an outlaw, the other a policeman, and both fall in love with the rich man's daughter, who is going to be married off to a politician, etc. Or an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, where the detectives' uncovering of one gruesome crime leads to the discovery of an even more gruesome crime.
So the book is an unending tale of the woes of misogyny. And however cliche that may be, it does not change the fact that misogyny does cause a lot of damage in people's lives.
In addition, the author actually tries to teach contemporary Afghani history through the characters' lives. In the author's retelling of events, the period of communist rule in the 1970s-1980s, comes out looking the best, at least from the vantage point of Kabul. And while the Taliban come out looking bad, the previous mujahideen factions also come out looking bad. While a lot of this is old news to most Muslims who have followed Afghanistan for the last 30 years, the discussion group participants in Augusta, GA remarked that, despite the fact that U.S. forces have been deployed in Afghanistan for nearly 7 years, they learned a lot from this aspect of Khaled Hosseini's book.
One concern I have is whether Khaled Hosseini whitewashes the current government of Afghanistan. My understanding is that it relies so much on the anti-Taliban warlords that life for most Afghanis has improved marginally. Has misogyny decreased since the Taliban left Kabul? What about Malalai Joya, who has been suspended from the Afghani parliament for speaking against its warlords? In addition to her June 2007 interview on Democracy! Now, she was featured in a [wideangle] episode which aired in September 2007. Economic improvement has occurred through the increase of opium production.
The novel has an obvious anti-Pushtun bias. And it seems as if this is how the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan is shaping up, with primarily Pushtun Taliban controlling areas of the south and primarily non-Pushtun militias ruling in various northern and western provinces and taking part in the weak central government. In this regard, the novel fails to achieve the uplifting ending it portrays through the individual character of Laila because there is no approaching of consensus towards a less misogynistic, more ethnically and religiously tolerant society.
Having said all that, the novel is an easy read, and there is a plot twist that I did not expect. Most of the people who attended the discussion group said the novel was better than Kite Runner. So I'd say it's a good vacation read.
Enthralling...
This is so beautifully written. Absolutely enthralling and you cannot put it down. The two main characters are so well drawn you can actually feel empathy for them at what they have to endure throughout the story. This is in short..one the best books I have ever read.
Very touching
This is a must read if you have read Kite Runner. I loved this book from start to finish.
Very good BOOK
My Book came in excellent condition, I had a great time reading the story. Hope to buy more soon from here
Excellent Story
I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Why buy a book when you can go to the library?" Well, I agree with him in part. If I'm interested in a book, I first check it out at the library. If I really like it, I return it and then I buy a new copy for my own personal library at home. After reading this book, I had to have my own personal copy. It is such a beautiful story. The love and friendship that develops between the two main female characters reminds me so much of Christ and the church, even though the story is set in Afghanistan where Christianity is not widespread, to say the least. And the emotional strength that each of these women demonstrates is remarkable. I highly recommend this book to anyone, regardless of your spiritual beliefs.
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