June

I really wanted to like this book. However, I found the narration very tedious. The characters were not likeable or sympathetic and the author seems overly-concerned with describing bowel movements and other bodily functions. Just not for me.

Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews on this book. Since it was 2 credits, I hesitated, but the reviews swayed me and I am so glad. The narration was outstanding with perfect characterizations. The story was intricate, interesting and full of interesting characters. I love to learn something new from a novel and the medical information was fascinating. Not too much, just perfect.

While the first few chapters of this book are fast-paced and riveting with lots of promise, the book then goes on to bore you to death with a scattered plot line. While there are some individually interesting characters, the plot just never worked for me. Worst of all, the book spends an inordinant amount of time proselytizing about China and its history and its importance in the world as viewed by a Swedish character. It may be the translation, but this novel would benefit from a major edit. It took all I had to finish it.

I love Stephen King and think he is a master of both plot and language. However, this was such a disappointment in terms of language and character development. It started with an interesting premise and then seems like Mr. King wrote it without his usual passion and skills. I can't wait for his next novel and will consider this an anomoly.

I rarely rate books all 5 stars (saving that for the best of the best), but this is certainly deserving. The plot, the characters, the narrators, the writing -- all are perfect. My husband, who is typically the spy/adventure type reader, loved it just as much as I did. We talked about it for days after finishing. It was hard to stop listening and I was sad when it was over. I'll listen again.

I don't know what possessed me to download this in the first place. The narration was annoying, making everything sarcastic (even when it did not need to be). The plot ridiculous. The character is poorly developed and contradicts herself over and over. Just a huge waste of time. I can't believe a publisher actually published this book.

Wonderful, inspirational, engaging. My teenage son also listened and loved it.

The narrator was great. Plot was interesting, but writing was poor. Author uses every boring cliche possible about Chicago, women, rape and police officers. It was really hard to make myself stick with it to the end.

I really loved the Kite Runner by the same author, so I was excited to download and listen to A Thousand Splendid Suns. This new novel is even better than Kite Runner. The authors imagery and character development are wonderful. The narrator is perfect. I found myself crying, laughing and even disagreeing with the main character's choices often -- shaking my head and wishing they would make other choices. The two main women characters are heroic and ring true. Both are characters I will remember.

Like Cold Mountain Frazier paints beautiful pictures with his words and creates unusual, compelling characters.