A Thousand Splendid Suns Review

A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini was quite an interesting read. I listened to it on CD and Atossi Leoni did an excellent job of bringing the whole story alive. Her accent alone made the book more real for me. I knew very little about the history of Afghanistan. The story is interwoven with the history of Afghanistan from the Soviet intevention through the post-Taliban rebuilding. Like many of Amy Tan's stories about China it gives you an upclose and personal view of what has happened to the ordinary citizen in Afghanistan. In particular it gives a woman's view as to how they were treated in this country by certain men. A very sad state of affairs! It was significant that the two women who fought literally for their lives banned together for the sake of the children.

Not only was the history interesting but the story line kept your attention. It was of course a classic love affair with a pregnancy to one man and a marriage to another. This however was the only many women in those countries could protect themselves. Although in many cases as in this one it is jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. I very much enjoy this book especially the history.