A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, (2007)

A story that follows the lives of Mariam and Laila as they respective narratives gradually intertwine, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at times crushingly sad but in others hopeful and inspiring. The book starts out following Mariam as she deals with an absentee father and a harsh, strict mother. Her experience is defined by her social status and the dishonorable fashion of her birth, that of her mother being a maid in her fathers house while he had a number of wives. Mariam’s mother consistently reminds her she is a harami, a derogatory term that becomes part of how Mariam sees herself. She holds her father in high esteem and while he loves her, he does not want her to blemish his image in Herat. This comes to a head when she wants to go to his cinema as well as spend time at his home. He leaves her outside the front gates in the cold and her opinion of him drastically shifts. The story moves through this setup quickly and expands after Mariam is given to Rasheed for marriage after Mariam’s mother hangs herself and Jalil (Mariam’s father) and his wives push for her to leave the family home in Herat.

The story is defined by the rigid patriarchy of society even in the case of Laila who becomes the second main character of A Thousand Splendid Suns. Laila is many years younger than Mariam and the gradual intertwining of their stories starts when Mariam moves with Rasheed and lives up the street from Laila’s family. Both Laila and Mariam have family lives defined by unfortunate circumstances and events. For Mariam, the loss of her mother and her father giving her up, and for Laila the death of her parents during an attack in which a rocket hit her family home. For Laila the civil unrest also heavily impacted her life when her brothers were killed in combat after they had left the family home. This sends her own mother down a self-destructive path but Laila’s father maintains a positive outlook and is encouraging to Laila’s own ambition and supports her education.

However, the upheaval of the Mujahideen, Taliban and turbulent politics of the region and the period ultimately end Laila’s hopes of pursuing the opportunities that her father would have wanted. While Laila grows up the story follows Mariam’s marriage and a series of miscarriages and a gradual decline in her relationship with Rasheed. The troubling relationship between Mariam and Rasheed only grows when they rescue Laila after the rocket explosion and he takes Laila as a second wife. It is with both Laila and Mariam under the same roof that the story escalates and takes some exciting twists. While Rasheed only wishes for Laila to have a son, her first child is actually fathered by Tariq a boy from the same neighborhood who Laila was incredibly close to. Since Laila gives birth to a daughter Rasheed follows the same distancing behavior that Mariam experienced. This ends up drawing the two women together and Rasheed’s violent and abusive behavior ultimately results in both of them attempting to escape.

The story continues to escalate and the ensuing twists occur in the context of war and conflict. There are triggering sections given the harsh and violent circumstances of Afghanistan during the time of A Thousand Splendid Suns. The two women eventually have very different conclusions to their stories with Laila ending in a much more positive situation. It is the team work and reliance that both show once they become closer that provides a glimpse of hope and inspiration within the otherwise violent and aggressive environment. Mariam leaves an indelible mark on Laila’s life and vice versa.

This is a fantastic book and the way that the two women’s lives gradually intertwine makes a fascinating story. While the historical context and triggering events of both women’s lives is difficult to read at times there are aforementioned glimpses of hope and inspiration. It is the persistence and overcoming of suffering that this book seems to emphasize, early on in the story Mariam’s mother teaches her daughter this lesson of dealing with suffering. Both Laila and Mariam put up with their fair share of suffering but through their experiences the suffering is seen to pervade society. A Thousand Splendid Suns can offer an interesting history lesson behind the fascinating narrative and it is the context that colors the experiences of the characters within the story. Western imperialism drastically shaped periods of the history and context, as did political instability and patriarchy. The detail Hosseini imbues in the story adds to a rich narrative and I will definitely re-read this book at some point as I am certain I missed some aspects that were incredibly interesting.