Reviews tagging 'Grief'

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

177 reviews

fatsss's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

This was a reread and it was still as good as the first time I read it. Hosseini is an amazing writer. 

Although a reader can be skeptical about the stories of women being written by a man, he did a great job at portraying their stories. 

It’s filled with so much pain so it’s guaranteed to make you teary eyed. I also admire how easy it is to get sucked into this world because of Hosseni’s ability to use words that create vivid images. 

The book reenforces all the horrible pain and tragedy that comes with war especially those faced by women and children. I liked that Hosseini emphasized that the pain these two groups go through during war is incomparable. 

Though this book has the power to let readers see and understand the struggles of Afghanistan women, I feel the way it portrayed these struggles, it may also give readers who should not have the space to give opinions on certain issues the space to do so. 

For example, the discourse around women wearing burqa’s or hijabs where random people who it doesn’t concern say they are against it when it honestly isn’t their business. 

It reminds me of what Roxanne Gay said in Bad feminist, paraphrasing, she said forcing women not to wear the burqa is just as bad as forcing them to. 

Well at the end of the day, nothing is black and white and it’s all more complicated than that. 

But yes, good book. But approach with caution it deals with so many hard things. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Grief, Medical trauma, Domestic abuse, War, Violence, Gun violence, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Miscarriage

cassie_heintz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Beautifully cruel. Heart wrenching in the best and worst ways.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, War, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, and Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Child death, Rape, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, and Sexism

irshtnk's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad tense fast-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

5.0

This book is heartbreaking. I started to tear from the first 30 pages and haven’t stopped crying till the end. At moments it takes your breath and you have to pause to be able to breath and continue reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, War, and Violence

valorree's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, Gore, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Rape, War, Violence, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia

beepppp's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and War

theelliad's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.5

this was so beautiful to read and so eye opening to read a history, raw and realistic though fictional, so ignored by the western curriculum. mapping these events to pop culture moments and more recognisable (to western readers) events gives the story such a followable timeline despite it spanning such a wide time period 

the writing style of this is so beautiful and emotional and hosseini approaches such difficult themes in such a gentle and humane way, overall a very beautiful read 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Torture, Grief, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, Child death, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Gore, Hate crime, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Abortion, Rape, Cursing, and Police brutality

onyxisalive's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.25

Overall, this book was very depressing. The hard to read scenes are well written- however, when it comes to the aftermath of these events it feels like the author is in a rush to get on to the next thing, this causes the emotional impact of events to dampen for me.  The further on into the book you get the more the rushing happens, the author rushes character relationships to the point where it feels like you missed out on all the development there. Also, the reaction of characters to events that have happened (or to being told news) is skipped over- it would’ve made the book a lot better if the author had slowed down a bit when it came to these things. 
The book started off really strong, but towards the end I felt like the quality declined. The ending for me was really underwhelming as it felt certain things weren’t acknowledged ‘on screen’ when they perhaps should have been. 

the welcoming back of tariq felt really underwhelming and rushed and the account of their lives together after felt rushed through and as a result the events weren’t as emotional as they could’ve been if the author had taken his time

I can’t speak as to how historically accurate this book is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, and War

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

Check a trigger warnings list online before reading.

andreaah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Grief, Death of parent, Violence, War, Sexism, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Classism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Murder, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Death, Misogyny, Miscarriage, and Gun violence

wifeslife's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Child abuse, Sexism, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, War, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Confinement, Bullying, Blood, Abandonment, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Death, Violence, Religious bigotry, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Infertility, Grief, Domestic abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Police brutality

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Murder, Sexual assault, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Gore, War, Violence, Grief, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Rape, Abandonment, Abortion, Genocide, Gun violence, Infertility, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Blood, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Death, and Infidelity