"Of all the
hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of
waiting…"
A Thousand Splendid
Suns is a beautiful story that is part historical fiction, part social commentary,
but really, all wonderful. Through the stories of Mariam and Laila, the last
thirty years of Afghanistan
are projected and see in a way more intimately than you could ever get from
reading an article on the matter. The story is one of life and heartbreak in an
unforgiving time. But above all the story is one of companionship, a
companionship that breaks through the tide of generations and forms through a
mutual understanding of pain and tragedy.
I think Khaled Hosseini did a beautiful job of painting the
struggles of these two Afghan women, and gave the situation more perspective
than you would have seen before. The politics were touched on, however, the
real demonstration with them were the true effects the politics had on human
life. Mariam and Laila both start the story at a young age, a whole generation
apart, but growing in a world that in practically imploding on itself everyday.
This fact, along with the sudden and rough thrusting out of a world they knew
and loved, is what Mariam and Laila hold in common. And the marriage to a
wretched husband by both only strengthens it.
All the characters in this book were written well. Mariam
was a silent pillar of strength, a woman who despite her best efforts became
quite like her own Nana, but who
showed the most endurance to the end. He story, her evolution, interests me
more than all. At the start of the story she is nothing but a young, naive girl
pitted with the name of harami, a
bastard. And by the end, with the "war", what the life she lived
turned her into, is something both beautiful and terrifying to read. Then there
Liala too, the passionate and sometimes hotheaded, girl. She grows up far too
fast, her story cut in half when compared to Mariam's, but all the same it
engrains deep changes on her that she could've never predicted. Liala is the
girl forced to grow up too soon. But her strength was admirable, the tenderness
for her daughter incredible, and the love she has for Tariq wonderful. The
character of Rasheed, the horrendous man to whom they are both married, was
well written. I came to despise him, as I feel you should with characters such
as him. But in being written well, he was complex, someone who I wanted to
understand even in his worst moments. Then there were the 'Soviets', the
'warlords', the 'Taliban', and the 'Americans', all of these characters who
weren't even characters at all. And yet they were always there and always
present, playing with a game with some Godlike hand, giving the characters
spare bits of hope here and there, only to slap them in the face when they grab
for it.
This story was wonderful. It had my emotions all mixed up, I
hope so deeply for the characters. I winced at their pain, became angry at their
oppressors, and cried in all the deaths. It was moving beyond anything else, that
is was just a story of life, but one so complex and admonishing that it's hard
to think that while this is a work of fiction it probably is an accurate representation
of the lives that people had to live. And that's what so beautiful about this
novel, and so hard too.
Fin.
-Keshia
*This is the exact same review I posted on my Goodreads Account, but I've decided I'm going to start sharing these in my blogs as well*
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