I loved this book as much as the Kite Runner. This is not an easy book to read over and over again. It is not a happy book at all. It is incredibly heartbreaking, tragic, painful, compelling and unusual.. The cruelty to women is incomprehensible. Khaled tells us the story of two women and their struggles for life in a society that thinks they should not live. What I find ironic about such societies is the obvious struggle between valuing women as life givers while depleting their worth because they are not men. The status of medical care during the rule of the Taliban is clinically detailed by the author and graphically described when Laila presents to the only hospital in Kabul which is allowed to treat women and has to undergo a Cesarean section without anesthesia because the Taliban won’t fund the women’s hospital.
A Thousand Splendid Suns tells the story of two women, Mariam and Laila, all of their pain, suffering and joy. This book was initially broken up into two different stories. The story of Miriam who was a harami child, and the story of Laila absorbed in young love. Entering part 3 of the book, it started to painfully yet beautifully wretch and tear my heart apart. Two women separated by a generation, bound to the same brutal man, will break your heart. They are brought together by unfortunate circumstances in war-torn Afghanistan. Their bond is truly heartwarming and completely incredible, unbreakable. The sacrifices of Mariam and Laila are selfless and painful. I could not help but get choked up by the terrible conditions and situations they were faced with...especially those brought on by the evil Rasheed. This is surely going to take some time for me to digest.
My Rating :
No comments:
Post a Comment