A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

“A linguistic, cultural, and educational journey through beautifully complex Afghanistan”

This book was really interesting to read. It not only offered huge insight into the Afghan war, the Taliban, and the history of the region but did so through the lives of people directly affected by it. The story itself is not a happy one, but there is an endearing hope throughout the novel that pushed me to keep reading, despite some of the heavy scenes that took place.

Having never read The Kite Runner, it is now on my list. Hosseini is great at creating an atmosphere that compliments his descriptive language used to create a scene or a moment.

The book was also really well written, especially since it covers a multi-generational-period of nearly forty-five-years and focuses largely on two main female protagonists. Many themes in the story focus on the way parents and children love, disappoint, and in the end honor each other.

Since the story is largely driven by the characters and the events they go through, I found that after a while, they truly seemed like real people. For me, it is astonishing how Afghanistan went, in a relatively short period of time, from free to Communism, to civil war, to religious oppression, and now, hopefully, back to freedom.

I high recommend this book and am glad to have had the chance to read it.