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 enlarge | Author: Khaled Hosseini
Publisher: Riverhead
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $11.24
You Save: $14.71 (57%)
New (112) Collectible (38) from $11.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  1253 reviews
Sales Rank: 45
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.7 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 1594489505
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781594489501
ASIN: 1594489505
Publication Date: May 22, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Never Read, Mint Condition, B.C.E.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Better than Kite Runner July 24, 2008
Khaled Hosseini's second novel proves that he is here to stay. I thought Suns was even better than Kite Runner. A Thousand Splendid Suns was a very well-written, engrossing, page turner which provides the reader a nice glimpse of the history and culture of Afganistan. Overall, Hosseini has a big formula for both writing and reading success.
My problem with the Kite Runner was that I thought the first third of the novel was SUPERB and the last two-thirds were a let-down. Here again, with A Thousand Splendid Suns, there is a split. The first three-quarters, FANTASTIC, the last quarter, just so-so. For me the book could have ended once Rasheed got his come-uppance. That was all I was really waiting for.
The story revolves around the characters of two women: Mariam and Laila, their childhoods and their ultimate and unlikely shared marriage to the bully Rasheed. The women's characters, and the characters of the men they loved (Mariam's father and for Laila, Tariq) were very well-developed. Husband, Rasheed's character, was not developed at all. I guess it was no matter since we obviously were not supposed to like him anyway. It was a story of lost and found love, fear, and the struggle for survival amid a war-torn, confusing society where it seems anything oppressive, goes. My favorite part was the quiet but airtight bond that developed between Mariam and Laila in the face of calamity.
 Informative look at life for women in Afghanistan's current history July 23, 2008
All I can say is wow. What the two women went through in this book is incredible, and to remain so strong through it all.
I knew that life was not pleasant for women in previous years in Afghanistan, but the cruelty of what they went through was just mind altering. Through the story of Miriam and Laila, we see the injustices that women suffered under the Taliban regime. All of it was with the "approval" of the government. Beating and torchering women behind closed doors was a fact of life for many, and how Miriam and Laila stayed so strong through it all gives real hope of endurance in rough times. I guess the best way to describe it is they just had to survive and did what they could to accomplish this day by day.
You will not regret picking this one up. At times it can be a raw and brutal account of punishments that women went through, but the story teaches a lesson of endurance during hard times.
A thousand splendid minutes July 23, 2008
I was with my Mom when she bought this book. The day after she bought it she said, "I read three pages and then decided I don't have time to read." After finishing this book in 36 hours, I'm determined to force my Mom to read the rest. It's always shockingly beautiful when a male author can sneak inside the minds of women and convey their emotions, feelings, joys and revulsion in a given situation. Though this sounds "un-politically correct" in this day and age, it's equally surprising when the minds of the female characters can connect to the mind of their male author. I would say that I felt "empathy" towards these women. But empathy implies that my experiences drawn on those similar to theirs and this couldn't be further than the truth. Furthermore, the explanation for the reasons behind the twisting, turning lives of Laila and Mariam wouldn't be complete without the supporting characters whose scary, nauseating, beautiful traits intertwine with their lives. They are all multidimensional. So much so that I felt that if I closed my eyes and reached out my hand, it would intertwine with theirs or it would land with a vicious "smack" on a deserving face. Buy this book, take a deep breath and don't plan on putting down for the next two days.
A cultural eye opener July 23, 2008
A Thousand Splendid Suns is a portrait of life in war torn Afghanistan, especially for women and their suffering without complaint in that culture. A great eye opener for those who in this part of the world see little more than their noses and have much more than they deserve, yet spend their lives complaining.
Anna del C.
Author of "The Elf and the Princess"
The Elf and The Princess: The Silent Warrior Trilogy - Book One (The Silent Warrior Trilogy)
Splendid indeed! July 22, 2008
WOW! This was every bit as engrossing as The Kite Runner. The story of two women in war torn Afghanistan is so enlightening, heartbreaking and beautiful, you'll feel as if someone forced your eyes open to watch a horrifying train wreck. The experience is one you will not soon forget, and you will come out surprisingly richer for it.
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