mrs_faith_owens 's review for:

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

5.0

challenging dark emotional informative slow-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

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Normally, I only give five stars for books I think I’ll recommend frequently, and I’m not sure I would recommend this to most people, as it was dark enough it made me cry… while reading in Starbucks. That being said, I can’t imagine giving this book any less than five stars. It was such a hard read but somehow had a happy ending, and that ending didn’t feel at all flippant or contrived. This book put me into the mother of all reading slumps, but it has lived in my head ever since. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, War

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence

Do not read this book if you are triggered by or cannot handle violence against women and children + child marriage. If the type of domestic abuse makes a difference, most of it is physical, but there are things the abuser holds over the FMCs’ heads. The abuser is a brute who sees no value in women other than their potential to give him a son. One of the FMCs is largely abandoned by her father as she was born out of wedlock. The other is neglected by her mother but loved by her father

until both die in a bombing

. On top of the abuse, most of this book takes place during war in an active war zone, so there are descriptions of bombings.