A Thousand Splendid Suns

by: Nmbr2pencil

To me this book hit on an emotional level. I am not a very emotional person. However, it seems this one's a winner. I have finally found a book which takes the position of common and ordinary people and, in the process, exploits the horrid possibilities of an unfortunate life. The character who affected me the most was Mariam. She never found a glimpse of happiness in her whole life. She was born illegitimately, married unwillingly, and severely abused in all ways afterwards, up until her death. To me this book was a ground breaking revelation. Instead of talking about those who died in battle, the soldiers, the commanders, presidents and what not, this book turns to the shunned civilians.

To some ordinary person this book is superb with great writing and a good story. However, to me this was much more. I could relate to the characters on even ethincly and cultrurally. I have traveled to Middle Eastern homelands and learned their customs. The harsh reality is that there are people who are accepted in the Middle East whose behaviors match those of Rasheed’s. The antagonist in the story, Rasheed, always had the skill of infuriating me, his very name made me mad.

The Way Rasheed beat the women half to death, or used them for personal gain and discarded their feelings as if they lived solely for him was a part of this book that showed the realism behind the story. I was so happy once he died but everything didd not go as well as I hoped once Mariam had to die. I almost wished Laila would die in her place because Mariam went through so much hell. But it seemed the author wanted to put an end to Mariam’s misery.

There was one little discouragement in this book to me. It was not in the writing, or the story, it was how the author veered off the subject of where the misery began with the ladies. To me a couple of pages weren’t enough to mention Mariam’s idiot Father and Mother. Who, instead of giving her hope to become a normal person, discouraged her from the day she was born. Neither were the couple of pages on the stray rocket that hit Laila’s house sufficient enough to show the idiocy behind the whole concept of war. The book mentions how the girls were affected by the turning points in their lives. However, the turning point itself was not mentioned enough and remained hazy throughout the story.

I’m proud that someone has taken those subtitles on the news, of people getting injured and killed in bomb raids and turned them into a sensible story. A story so strong it demands an open eye with enough power to see through the smoke and mirrors that is our media. That power is truth and logic, and the illusions by the smoke and mirrors are our ignorance. This story is more than just a story. It is a message from the unheard, the disregarded, and the underestimated. They are the people of the world being wronged for little or no reason.

Disastrous events like the ones in this story are made well known to the common Iraqi and Afghani people who mean no harm. They know it so well because they are forced to live in similar conditions. The cruelty of war spares no civilians. To many civilians, not unlike Mariam and Laila, death doesn’t seem too far, but neither does it seem too bad.

However the people of this story, even though they aren’t as mentionable as the protagonists, that made me feel very sad were the children, born and unborn alike. The unborn were a product of stress and mistreatment of the mother. While the born, Aziza and Zalmai, had to suffer the consequences of life. I could even feel a knife cutting through my gut while Laila got a C-Section without anesthetic treatment. Pain, suffering, torture, and death are all the realities mentioned in this book. The author has chosen to put in clear view what we, easy living people, have chosen to turn a blind eye upon, which is cruel TRUTH.