A Thousand Splendid Suns

By: Khaled Hosseini

Narrated by: Atossa Leoni

Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of 30 years of Afghanistan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss, and by fate. As they endure the ever-escalating dangers around them, in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul, they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.

A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.

©2007 TKR Publications, LLC. All rights reserved (P)2007 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Another searing epic....[Hosseini's] tale is a powerful, harrowing depiction of Afghanistan, but also a lyrical evocation of the lives and enduring hopes of its resilient characters." (Publishers Weekly)
"Unimaginably tragic, Hosseini's magnificent second novel is a sad and beautiful testament to both Afghani suffering and strength. Readers who lost themselves in The Kite Runner will not want to miss this unforgettable follow up." (Booklist)

Very interesting story

Interesting story, but also depressing to think of how these women were forced to live. However, in the end there is a sense of hopefulness. I enjoyed listening to this wonderful story.

Many favorite quotes from this one

The vivid detail of the place, the sights, smells & feels transports the reader to live the story beside the characters. The narrator's accent lended vital authenticity to the tale. It was pleasant to listen to as well as the natural flow of the narration. Only a native speaker could do justice to the pronunciations of so many Afghani names and terms.
This was a high school summer reading assignment. I got drawn into it while listening with my daughter in the car. Great job teachers, this was a good pick!

The storyline itself is amazing

I very much enjoyed listening to this book. However I noticed it doesn't actually follow the book. I'm currently reading this book in my English class and when I'm at home I like to listen to the story rather than read it,but when I got to class I realized there are huge chunks that I never listened to on the audiobook. Other than that the story was amazing and the narration was great.

The audiobook doesn’t match the book

When following along with the book, the audio randomly skips paragraphs, and does not follow the book. Save yourself the trouble, and skip the audio.

This is not the complete version of the text

As my students and I were listening to this text, we realized that this version leaves out significant pieces of information or skips chunks of the text we were reading. So, this version does not work for us. I had to use one of my other credits to hopefully get the unabridged version.

A little disappointed

I am in love with is book and the author. The Narrator is amazing at telling the story. On the other hand I have a hard copy of this book and I have found that the narrator is skipping sections of the book here and there. This is only my second book on Audible so I don't know if this is normal or not.

Hard subject matter

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Nothing

Any additional comments?

Just a hard subject matter to follow. I lost interest in the first CD, but tried to give it the benefit and continued.

Skips Pages

I read along to the audible and get lost because it skips random pages and paragraphs! What a rip-off!

Heart Breaking

fantastic

Skipped a lot

I am disappointed with how it was read. It skipped a lot of the paragraphs in the chapters and I kept getting lost when reading it with the physical book.