Nov 4, 2008 Posted by booktiger on Nov 4, 2008 in Afghanistan, War | 1 comment

A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini

This is the second book I have read about the plight of women in Afghanistan. This is the second time I have had to read a book in installments, putting it down when my anger and fury grew too great to continue reading. And this is the second time I have come away from a book wondering how, in our supposedly modern world, human beings can still be treated worse than animals for the sake of a tradition, or a religion, or what is in my opinion a clinging to a patriarchal structure which enshrines misogyny.

A Thousand Splendid Suns traces the life of two women – Mariam, whose very birth brought shame, and Laila, who was fortunate enough to have chances, education and love, but thanks to the violence of the past 30 years in Afghanistan, found herself living under the same kind of brutal control as Mariam. The book is riddled with violence, both domestic and national. It oozes with injustice and cruelty. And yet it is filled with so much hope and defiance that when I cried, I wasn’t sure whether I was crying from sadness or from pride in these two women.

Mariam, born out of wedlock finds her childhood shattered in the space of a couple of days when her mother commits suicide, and her estranged father sells her off to be married. Her new husband, Rasheed, very rapidly descends into cruelty and violence when Mariam doesn’t produce the children he wants (and apparently baby-machine or slave were her only two options – apologies for my cynicism here but it still makes me angry to think about it) and she settles into a life which to many women like myself is almost not worth living. No freedom. No choice. Constant beatings. Constant belittlement. No hope. No future.

Laila is born to a neighbour several years after Mariam’s marriage. In contrast, Laila grows up with a loving father and a best friend, Tariq, who is to be her one and only true love. Unfortunately, Laila can’t escape the rockets and bombs which become a way of life to the people of Kabul as their city becomes the violent playground of feuding war lords with very little consideration for the lives of the average people. One by one, the people around her who she loves are slaughtered, and one day she finds herself in the house of Mariam and Rasheed, with little choice but to become Rasheed’s second wife.

From an inital hatred, soon the women become friends, and then grow to love each other. It is this love which carries the rest of the book and provides the continual note of defiance. Despite them both being subjected to such a dreadful life, the fact they have each other keeps them going. The love between them results in their dreams of a better life, and eventually results in the ultimate sacrifice.

I do want to read books such as this, but my anger at the injustice often gets the better of me. What right has a religion or a tradition to destroy the life of so many people, simply because they were born female? How insecure do men have to be to endorse the beating of wives? How long do these women have to struggle beneath these kind of circumstances before they finally get a chance to be free?

Despite the book ending on a positive note, one can’t help but continue to watch the news about the troubles in Afghanistan and hear stories of honour killings, stonings and state sanctioned homicide. It makes me feel so helpless. It makes me feel so lucky to have the life I have. But it also makes me wish there were something I could do to help women such as Laila and Mariam experience the joy of freedom and the pride of being a woman and a human being that I have.

Is that possible? I don’t know. But while books as magnificent as this continue to be written, and the world is made aware of what goes on, then there is still hope.

Rating: 10/10
ISBN: 0747582971
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing plc
Year: 2007
Date Finished: 21st October 2008
Pages: 384

One Responseto “A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini”

1. As the Pages Turn says:

   December 16, 2008 at 6:46 am

   Wow. Frankly, this sounds like an interesting read and I’m sure I’ll be angry as you. Thank God for America. I’d love to have a review copy of this book.