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A review by angelikatha
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
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
I had to put down the book several times to stare in space with my mind adrift, waiting for my tears to dry, because my heart can only take so much in a moment.
Khaled has this detached but magnetic way of storytelling as if he's just passing on some news he overheard from the streets, as if these are all so common and prevalent that there's no other way to convey them than in a matter-of-fact manner. He surely knows how to make it sting even more. Truth be told, once and for all. Hurts hurled. No one spared. And it's horrible, horrible to think this is the truth in this fiction, that these are happening in Afghanistan, and probably in still some other parts of the world, probably somewhere nearer, somewhere just outside of here.
There is a main theme about life, particularly a woman's life, being an ode to quiet endurance. That what is visible in a woman's facade is only just a "slight tremor" of what is at the highest magnitude of suffering in the core. That most times women are indeed helplessly left with no other choice but to endure--and so silently for so long-- the unjust, unspeakable, undeserved violence and deprivation, because what else is there but an even more terrible oppression as a consequence of fighting for our rights?
Mariam had been bruised and battered for so long for no other reason than being a woman, taught by the world at such a young age, in the cruelest way, that she is no match for a man-- as if she had to match them to begin with. But for love, for her children, she fought back once and for all, and with all her might.
Afghanistan is a woman. And so are all countries where war is waged, where misogynists rule, where corruption takes over compassion in the hearts of supposedly capable people more than anything else.
This is a reminder of what we have been fighting for alongside other things And this is my hope for women that we all may find courage in the face of oppression. That so should we, amid faltering knees and a quivering heart. So should we fight. That we fight nonetheless.
PS: Although Khalil dedicates this book to the women of Afghanistan, I think he also wants to remind us that some men are just victims too, because the real victims here are children in general, and the real opponent is a larger misguided system that teaches boys and girls these false, unethical, self-serving beliefs.
PPS: Not saying that what Mariam resulted in doing in the end was the rightest thing to do. But see the tragedy, where the "no other way" leads to in the face of injustice, how she was just acting in self-defense and for someone else's salvation, and still she paid for it with her life, as if she did it only out of self-indulgence the way Rasheed did so all those years of abuse, and despite her life being an atonement already just for the "sin" of being born, and being born a woman.
Khaled has this detached but magnetic way of storytelling as if he's just passing on some news he overheard from the streets, as if these are all so common and prevalent that there's no other way to convey them than in a matter-of-fact manner. He surely knows how to make it sting even more. Truth be told, once and for all. Hurts hurled. No one spared. And it's horrible, horrible to think this is the truth in this fiction, that these are happening in Afghanistan, and probably in still some other parts of the world, probably somewhere nearer, somewhere just outside of here.
There is a main theme about life, particularly a woman's life, being an ode to quiet endurance. That what is visible in a woman's facade is only just a "slight tremor" of what is at the highest magnitude of suffering in the core. That most times women are indeed helplessly left with no other choice but to endure--and so silently for so long-- the unjust, unspeakable, undeserved violence and deprivation, because what else is there but an even more terrible oppression as a consequence of fighting for our rights?
Mariam had been bruised and battered for so long for no other reason than being a woman, taught by the world at such a young age, in the cruelest way, that she is no match for a man-- as if she had to match them to begin with. But for love, for her children, she fought back once and for all, and with all her might.
Afghanistan is a woman. And so are all countries where war is waged, where misogynists rule, where corruption takes over compassion in the hearts of supposedly capable people more than anything else.
This is a reminder of what we have been fighting for alongside other things And this is my hope for women that we all may find courage in the face of oppression. That so should we, amid faltering knees and a quivering heart. So should we fight. That we fight nonetheless.
PS: Although Khalil dedicates this book to the women of Afghanistan, I think he also wants to remind us that some men are just victims too, because the real victims here are children in general, and the real opponent is a larger misguided system that teaches boys and girls these false, unethical, self-serving beliefs.
PPS: Not saying that what Mariam resulted in doing in the end was the rightest thing to do. But see the tragedy, where the "no other way" leads to in the face of injustice, how she was just acting in self-defense and for someone else's salvation, and still she paid for it with her life, as if she did it only out of self-indulgence the way Rasheed did so all those years of abuse, and despite her life being an atonement already just for the "sin" of being born, and being born a woman.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: War
Minor: Abortion, Body shaming, Death of parent, Murder, and Suicide