Thursday, January 24, 2008

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I recently finished reading Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. It was a good book and quite un-putdownable.

The story revolves around the lives of two women - Mariam, an illegitimate daughter of a rich man married off to an old abusive husband when she was very young. And Laila - a rebellious and intelligent daughter of an educated progressive father. It is about how their lives intertwine, the sufferings they go through which eventually become the bond that strengthen them. It gives you glimpses of the history of Afghanistan, from the Soviet era to the rise and fall of the Taliban.

It is a sad story and my heart went out for the two women. The horror and pain these two women have to endure, reminded me of Princess, a biography about a Saudi Arabian princess which I had read more than a decade ago.

Even though I found the story gripping, there are times when I felt the story to be dragging along. Other than that, the book is extremely well written, the characters are strong and well defined and the story is heart wrenching. I definitely recommend it!

PS-> Anyone seen the Kite Runner movie yet?

9 comments:

fursat said...

Interesting, although the book sounds a bit girlish in terms that it revolves around women and so you may relate more to it than myself. I am looking for some good book by Indian authors that may not be available on the other side of the world...let's see. Good review :-)

Anonymous said...

So you have finished reading the book. I've not read your review yet as I want to read the book :).

You know what this title and Kite Runner were in my "To Read" list since long. I will read soon.

It's very easy us (specially for me) to chose the book for read as we know which is the bestseller ;).

fursat said...

I wanna see Kite Runner **BAWLLLLLLLLLLL** (leaving for Chandigarh in 30 mins :p)

Ekta said...

Loved the book.

Wanna see the Kite Runner movie...

Anonymous said...

still no up dates !!!!

Or will you wait to finish the book that you are currently reading :P.

Moonie said...

wassaup?? How was V-day????? ha ha ha ha :-D :-)

Colors said...

Ricky, you should try it anyway...you might get to see things from "our" point of view!

Juneli, you've got to read The Kite Runner!

Yeah Mehak, I too wanna see the movie...never got a chance. I guess I'll have to see it in dvd now.

Colors said...

Sorry! My days have been very normal so don't have anything to write :)

Hey Moonie, V-day was spent with V :P...atleast the evening part. Had gone for a nice dinner. This weekend being a long weekend, we r going to Maine for a winter activity trip..skiing, snow mobiling. We r a group of 9..so hopefully it'll be fun!

Moonie said...

so wot next after the splendid suns?