Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

58 reviews

jennabarry3's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

grichmond's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

beckyjc's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

Where to even begin with this one? God, it's sad. Deeply, brutally sad. I had reservations reading it given that Afghanistan has fallen again to the Taliban since this book was published. Would this real-life backdrop make it even sadder? The answer is yes. But I do think it's important to read stories like this, as heartbreaking as they are. My knowledge of the conflicts in Afghanistan over the past few decades is limited, and likely full of misconceptions. I wanted to read an Afghan writer to try and understand more of the human impact.

Mariam and Laila's story's really affected me. Both women are drawn with such respect and empathy. The love story between Laila and Tariq is one of the sweetest I've read this year and I was rooting for them the whole time.
When Tariq returns 'from the dead' I gasped out loud on the bus where I was reading it. Some hope in amongst the sheer horror at last!
The complexities of the religious and cultural customs of the country (and the differences between Kabul and other towns or rural areas), and the relationship between men and women, are fascinating and sobering to a Western eye. Some of the chapters left me feeling desolate. How can we be so inhumane to one another? And knowing that the women of Afghanistan are once more having to live under such barbaric, utterly deplorable conditions is almost unbearable. I carried on reading because the characters are compelling and I was invested, but it was not a comfortable read in the slightest. 

The relationship between Mariam and Laila is beautiful written, moving from initial suspicion and hostility to a touching depiction of quasi-motherhood. The indignities and suffering they must endure is very troubling to read, but their ultimate resilience of spirit does give the book some respite and a welcome hopeful core. I just desperately wish that this wasn't the reality of thousands of women still today. Still. Again. Can we begrudge or blame immigrants fleeing such terrors? How can this be an acceptable way of life for the people of Afghanistan?

The ending made me very reflective. At first I didn't understand why Laila would want to return to Kabul. Surely, as the site of so much atrocity and personal tragedy, she should stay well clear and protect herself and her family? But this is an important lesson I took from the book. What happens when your home becomes a place of fear and destitution as a result of war? What responsibilities do we have to future generations, and to the past, to restore order? To rebuild and to grow? What does home and heritage mean? This is another reason the developing real world events are so devastating in the context of this book I think. The constant cycle of destruction and regeneration. When will it end?


The writing is not overly sophisticated. Hosseini has an eye for a good story and keeps things simple. But against such a complex political backdrop this is no bad thing, I think. I'm glad I saw it through. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

strange's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-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

I... do not even know how to put words to this book. Mariam. Laila. These two women will live in my heart forever, and I am amazed at how they came to life in 400 short pages. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

margardenlady's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow. This is a hard reality to see so vividly.  I can only imagine what it is like to live it.  Hosseini has written a compelling story of women in his native Afghanistan.  Mariam is a bastard daughter of a wealthy man who already has 3 wives.  Laila is the daughter of a teacher.  Both stories are told from childhood on and the parallels from a shared culture are outweighed by the huge differences in opportunity afforded by having educated parents who cherish you. Nobody is protected from the suffering of war, however.  Both women end up wives to the same man and together they forge a friendship that permeates the novel with love and hope.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kharpstead's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional inspiring 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? Yes

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

amberinbookland's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes

4.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lilifane's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful informative sad 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

I've read a lot of bleak and depressing books lately but this one tops them all. I still couldn't put it down. I got attached to the protagonists Mariam and Laila whose lives you follow throughout the book. Loved to get to know them since childhood and learn how their lives intertwined, their friendship slowly developed. Didn't love what they had to endure, though. They didn't deserve all the pain and loss, noone does. Yet, similar things happened and still happen to people in countries with oppression and war.

I did like the writing and all the information you get on Afghanistan and its history. It was more detailed than in The Kite Runner and more depressing since the characters actually spend the whole book there. And you get to see it through the eyes of women, who were mostly affected by all the changes in the country.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...