A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Novel

De: Khaled Hosseini

Narrado por: Atossa Leoni

After more than two years on the bestseller lists, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel of enormous contemporary relevance.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding—that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heartwrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love—a stunning accomplishment.©2007 TKR Publications, LLC. All rights reserved; (P)2007 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Excellent Story and Audiobook

Phenomenal audio book, beautifully read by a woman with just enough accent to set the mood, but very very easy to understand. This was one case where I thought I enjoyed the audio book more than I would have the written book because she pronounced many native references correctly, whereas I would not have known how they sounded if I had read it myself.

Also, I am sure you can read all the positive reviews on Amazon, but this story is excellent. I have never sought out this genre, where actual history (of Afghanistan) is brought to life through the eyes of fictional characters. The way two initially separate plots are woven together was very interesting. I highly recommend it to all readers. The characters in the story are very realistic and well-developed; even the antagonists have elements of humanity. The book presents Afghanistan's tomultuous recent history without politicizing it, simply presenting it.

I enjoy many types of audiobooks from chick-lit to non-fiction, but this has been my favorite one so far.

Heartbreaking and beautiful

I defy any western woman to read this book and come away without being moved by how privilaged our lives are. This book is an argument against cultural tolerance, if by cultural tolerance we mean condoning the torture and enslavement of an entire gender based upon religious beliefs. The courage and love in this tale will break your heart. It is a testament to how the human spirit can survive and even thrive in the worst of circumstances.

Wonderful,Wonderful!!

How do you describe the experience which is this book?
I enjoyed Kite Runner and found that I could not compare these two books as they are so vastly different.
As the lives of these women intertwined I too was being pulled into the pages. I found myself transported to Mariam's dingy kitchen and to the bedroom that was Laila's prison.
The narration was brilliant with all pronunciation so perfect and carrying such authenticity and empathy.
I highly recommend this book to anyone with a conscience and open to some tough education.

See the world through a burka

This novel did a phenomenal job of explaining what it was like to be a woman in Afghanistan in the years between 1960 – 2001. Told from the point of view of two Afghan women, the story of their complete subjugation to men was heartbreaking, so terrible at points that I wanted to put the book down. One of the women, Mariam, is born out of wedlock, relegating her to the sidelines of life—which is saying a lot in a culture in which women are pretty much powerless. The reader experiences with Mariam what it was like the first time she put on a burka, we mourn with her the loss of peripheral vision, we chafe against the feel of fabric pressing on her mouth. When her husband casually tells her “you’ll get used to it,” that was really the theme of her whole life. Get used to being beaten, get used to being told you are worthless, get used to being ignored, get used to bombs falling all around you, get used to hunger.

“Each snowflake was a sigh heard by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world. All the sighs drifted up the sky, gathered into clouds, then broke into tiny pieces that fell silently on the people below. As a reminder of how women suffer.”

The second, younger woman, Laila, is born in happier circumstances, but the war and circumstances land her in the same house with Mariam and is subjected to the same inhuman treatment at the hands of their mutual husband.

The day the Taliban arrive in Kabul and make their decrees for women public, heralds yet more restrictions.

“Attention Women: You will stay inside your homes at all times. It is not proper for women to wander aimlessly about the streets. If you go outside, you must be accompanied by a male relative. If you are caught alone on the street, you will be beaten and sent home. You will not, under any circumstance, show your face. You will cover with burka when outside. If you do not, you will be severely beaten. Cosmetics are forbidden. Jewelry is forbidden. You will not wear charming clothes. You will not speak unless spoken to. You will not make eye contact with men. You will not laugh in public. If you do, you will be beaten. You will not paint your nails. If you do, you will lose a finger. Girls are forbidden from attending school. All schools for girls will be closed immediately. Women are forbidden from working. If you are found guilty of adultery, you will be stoned to death. Listen, listen well, obey. Allahu Akbar.”

But despite the grim circumstances in which the women find themselves, the author is able to draw the reader into their lives and show how love can flourish even in such dire circumstances. The writing is so superb, the characters so real, I was weeping at the end. A very important book and a must-read for anyone interested in the Middle East in general and Afghanistan in particular.

[I listened to the novel read by Atossa Leoni. Her performance was dispassionate, a stark contrast to the sometimes horror-filled events she was narrating, but that seemed appropriate, since the women in the book were extremely stoic in their own endurance of hardship. I did listen at 1.25 speed]

Compelling Story, if Hard to Read

This is another compelling story of Afghanistan, well written and read. The author has an incredible gift for capturing the complexity of Afghanistan from the time of the Russian occupation through 9/11. His use of metaphor is remarkable, but never so obvious that it distracts. I only wish my own writing could be so compelling.

The story itself is disturbing... hard to read at times. But the ending is well worth the effort, and what you will learn about Afghanistan will be enduring.