Love within a Family

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

My parents were born in the mid Fifties, as was Mariam.  I was born in the early Eighties, as was Laila.  As I was growing up in the southern United States, Laila was growing up in Afghanistan in war.  Although these countries were going through hell, and neither character knew anything but war and misery, I knew nothing about these things.  I was sheltered from news around the world until 2 planes flew into two buildings in New York and I first heard the words, Al Qaeda, Taliban, and names like bin Laden.  I would like to place blame on my school growing up for not giving us information about international affairs, I could blame my parents for not making me watch CNN or Fox News while in high school, but when I think back on my oh so comfortable life, I can only blame myself.   Because even if I would have known that these horrible acts of war were going on in countries and miles away I would not have cared.  It would have been another test, another lesson, or something that I wasn’t really listening to while thinking about all of the things going on in my life.  Like being the editor of the yearbook, being section leader of my instrument in band, that cute boy from the other school, while Laila is living years that are hell beyond anything that I could ever imagine. 

Hosseini takes the audience down a crazy path when 16 chapters into the book he changes characters and there is no skip in the story or building of the old or new characters.  Usually when there is a drastic change in a book that’s when I take a break, go do a load of laundry, watch a movie, etc.  Not with this book, I kept reading and was more in love with the characters with every turn of the page. 

I read The Kite Runner first by this author and loved it.  I immediately picked A Thousand Splendid Suns and was horribly disappointed when it was different character and a different setting altogether.  I returned it to my “borrowed books” stack on my book shelf and didn’t touch it for a very long time.  Now that my “borrowed book” pile is gone and the last book read, I am glad that I waited and enjoyed this book without comparing.  I loved A Thousand Splendid Suns so much and enjoyed the characters, the heart ache, and the redemption that at last we long for and get to see a small section of what is to come. 

I hope you take the time to read A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner, both are excellent reads and I enjoyed both!  Keep Reading my friends!