A Thousand Splendid Suns

Another gem from the writer who have given us the internationally acclaimed book 'The Kite Runner'. Never ever had a book made me sit up and read the whole of it in one go. But this book did that to me. I was so engrossed in the story of Mariam and Laila that i could not keep the book down till i finished it.

Set in Afghanistan through the late nineties, the book tells the story of Mariam and Laila, both brought together by fate and locked up in a loveless marriage to a egoistic person. Both Mariam and Laila, the central protagonists of the story, had beautiful childhoods in their own small worlds. During the course of their lives, fate plays havoc and they are brought together in a very strange, uncomfortable way. From there starts their struggle for survival, supporting each other in every possible way they can.

During the initial pages of the book, author tries to draw parallels between the lives of Mariam and Laila. Mariam is denied her father's love during her childhood and Laila her mother's. Both of them realises their mothers' love for them only after going through similar situations in life. All these incidents in turn helps Mariam and Laila bond better, though they belong to two different generations.

Many a time, i was horrified by the gory details of the torture inflicted upon Mariam and Laila, by their husband and all those tears struck in my throat came running down as Laila read the last letter addressed to Mariam, by her father. A thousand splendid suns makes a good read, challenging us emotionally, questioning the whole purpose of womanhood, yet, showing us that in the end, everything will be fine.
The two lines of the poem which Saib-e-Tabrizi wrote about Kabul, way back in seventeenth century illustrates the same point:

"One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs,
Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls."