Splendid Reading For A Thousand Suns And Beyond

Khaled Hosseini’s second novel,“A Thousand Splendid Suns” debuted as the #1 book in the nation, and it held the top position for four straight weeks. In addition to being #1 on The New York Times hardcover fiction list, it was also #1 on nearly every national bestseller list, including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Publishers Weekly, and Fort-Wayne Journal-Gazette.
At the axis of a nation that is changing politically and socially, in the midst of carnage and bloodshed, two women from completely different backgrounds, develop a strong relationship that even death cannot do apart. This is the story that is told in a Thousand Splendid Suns, a touching, emotional tale of a friendship that grows stronger in the heart of a nation that falls apart and tries to rebuild itself.
Mariam, a “Harami”, illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman from Herat, is forced into marriage with a much older shoemaker from Kabul. Mariam’s mother has recently committed suicide, something she blames herself for. After coming to terms with her marriage, she fails to bear her heavyset husband, Rasheed a child. The relationship between Rasheed and Mariam becomes abusive and highly matter-of- fact in the midst of a changing Afghanistan.
Laila, a neighbor’s child whom Rasheed and Mariam have watched growing up, loses her love and her siblings and parents to the war and fighting. Having been brought up in an intellectual environment she is saved by Mariam and Rasheed, whom she eventually agrees to marry for reasons that are only known to her.
Two women from two completely different backgrounds and of very different upbringing are thrown together in the middle of war. They suffer the oppression of their husband, the fighting and political environment together. Though Laila and Mariam begin their relationship as co-wives with hostility, it wanes quickly and becomes an eternal companionship that goes beyond mortality.
Hossieni’s first book, The Kite Runner, which is still on the top ten list, is about the relationship between fathers and sons. His second book is about the relationship between two Afghani women, told magnificently and succinctly in simple and effortless prose by a skilled storyteller, while interweaving the factual history of a besieged nation in the background.
A Thousand Splendid Suns went back to press almost daily its first week on sale, building to 1,255,000 copies in print in the U.S. Rolling into its second week, the book continued to fly out of stores, with another 150,000 more copies printed. Now in its sixth week, the current in-print total for A Thousand Splendid Suns is over 1,400,000; and growing…
Visi Tilak is an award winning writer who lives in Ashland, MA