Khaled Hosseini, writer of the famous book The Kite Runner, paints a vivid picture of what it is like to be a woman in Afghanistan in the book A Thousand Splendid Suns with two girl’s viewpoints. This book takes you through two different girls’ lives, one who never feels wanted by anyone and one who is told that she is wanted as a women and daughter by her father every day. These girls cross paths when they both become the wife of an abusive shoemaker. They must learn to accept each other and help each other to survive the violence of the war and the abuse by their husband. This is a book of extreme friendship, despair and courage. Hosseini’s themes in this book are the inequality of women, the inner strength of women, the difference between love and marriage, the affect evil has on people and the bond of friendship. Hosseini accomplishes her goal of portraying the struggle and courage of women in Afghanistan. Hosseini shows that she knows the history of Afghanistan and the wars that have happened there in the years and you can hear the passion she has for it in her writing.
When I first started reading this book I didn’t think I would enjoy it but, by the end of it, I was openly crying. I felt a very emotional connection to the two girls, which I’ve never felt with characters in a book before. From the beginning, I expected to be very bored and uninterested with learning what women go through in Afghanistan but, by the end, it made me want to research more about the subject. I expected to have a hard time finishing this book and it surprised me when it was hard for me to put it down.
All of the emotional and personal things in this book are backed up with things that have actually happened in history and things that women in Afghanistan go through. Knowing that the situations these two women faced actually can happen to people makes you more emotionally invested in this book. This is the type of book that keeps you thinking about it even after the last page and really makes you think about the world and its injustices. If you are looking for a book that will teach you about history, keep you entertained and make you think about the issues of the world while connecting you with the characters, then A Thousand Splendid Suns is the book for you.