Saturday, March 19, 2011

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by Khaled Hosseini

Finished Sa 3/19/11

Khaled Hosseini has created a wonderful character study about the love and respect of two Afghan women, of two different generations, who happen to share the same evil and violent husband. The novel spans a thirty year period from the the mid 70's through America's involvement in this war-torn land. Mariam is an illegitimate daughter of a wealthy man who is married off to a much older man. And, Laila is the child of educated parents who are killed in the war, and becomes "Wife Number Two" for the malevolent Rasheed. Although the war and the religion of Islam are background themes, the real thrust of this novel is the growing affection and understanding between these two women. At the conclusion of the novel, I could not believe how any nation could support a policy which treated women in such a despicable manner. A tyrannical government chose to interpret a very narrow and parochial view of Islam and the Koran.

No comments:

Post a Comment