A Thousand Splendid Suns
This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I know it’s been getting a buzz. Khaled Hossieni is also the author of The Kite Runner, a highly and widely acclaimed novel also about Afghanastan.
I have not read The Kite Runner, so I had no idea what to expect from A Thousand Splendid Suns — assuming of course that there’s some sort of pattern to an author’s writing. What I found was an incredibly engaging story about two Afghani women as they live through the various political changes in their country.
For an average length novel (I think — it’s hard to tell, as I read the large print version) Hossieni never loses his pace. While he does tend to skip entire years and chunks of life for his characters (particularly Miriam’s which I actually missed once I was done the book) it’s necessary to the plot.
ATSS is a sad book with a hopeful light at the end of the tunnel. You not only feel badly for the two main characters, you feel badly for the country as a whole as you “watch” it change. It’s a timely book that’s changed the way I look at the country.