Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

55 reviews

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

pabi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Cursing, Death, Abandonment, Infertility, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Violence, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Gun violence, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Confinement, Religious bigotry, War, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse

Mariam you deserved the world.

ashlislibrary's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Domestic abuse, War, Misogyny, Grief, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Confinement

dejnozkova's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I feel that this book was beautifully balanced, just as The Kite Runner was. But unlike The Kite Runner, this novel presents the stories of women; their struggles, their dreams, their disappointments, their bravery and tenderness, and their relationships with each other. His characters’ histories and personalities are intimately fleshed out in a way that makes them believable, intriguing, and emotionally impactful. It was a treat to watch them evolve over the course of Afghan history (from the 70’s through the 00’s), how they react to historical events and politics and how this shapes their inner domestic lives. 

The novel is also as informative as it is heart wrenching, especially if you aren’t already familiar with the politics and recent history of the region. Hosseini artfully navigates issues of politics, authoritarianism, the oppression of women, and suppression of civil liberties without being heavy handed or lazy. These issues are organically taught through the experiences of the characters so that they are memorable and personal. 

The novel is closed by offering a glimmer of sunshine to balance the darkness, which I personally love. I think that when authors write stories drenched in tragedy and outrage it’s important to also remark on the resiliency of the human spirit and our capacity to create and find beauty despite everything. I think Khaled Hosseini is one of those authors that actually acknowledges the flowers that can bloom after all the suffering. So for those of you tired of pessimistic endings I recommend this book as I feel it was down-to-earth and still hopeful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Medical trauma

Minor: Abortion, Rape, Vomit, Alcohol, Confinement, Excrement, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

gaycornbread420's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Blood, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Body horror, Miscarriage, Vomit, War, Confinement, Death of parent, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child abuse, and Pregnancy

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

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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

morsa's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

5.0

One if the BEST books I've ever read. The story and characters are brilliant and amazingly written. It does get a little slow    at the middle. The pacing is great and I couldn't put the book down. It's hard to read as it contains sensible topics. The end is just heartbreaking and leaves you with a bittersweet feeling. This is a book people should read at least once in their life.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, War, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Death, Animal death, Violence, Death of parent, Infertility, Medical content, Child abuse, Misogyny, Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Blood

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.

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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

absurdlyalex's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Child death, Miscarriage, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Sexism, Infertility, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Grief, Sexual violence, and War

katrinarose's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I have struggled to rate this book. I didn’t enjoy it, but I did fly through it. The writing style is beautiful and emotional but not overly flowery. My biggest complaint is that the characters were a bit black and white - either painted as a monster or perfect. I appreciate depth and complexity even in the most vile characters. In lacking this, most actions the characters took were a bit predictable.

I did cry while reading this book, but I was almost angry at the fact. Hosseini is praised for how raw he displays the suffering of generations of people in Afghanistan, especially women, but combined with the lack of real character depth, it feels like trauma porn for a western audience. I go back and forth on this opinion because their suffering deserves to be told in all the horror it was, but I can’t decide (and in the end it’s not up for me to decide) whether it’s honoring them or exploiting them.

So I didn’t enjoy it due to the immense pain I felt for the Mariam and Laila (and all the other women who suffered), however I couldn’t put it down either. A 3.5 it is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Misogyny, War, Grief, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Gaslighting