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 Couldn't stop reading! Jul 29, 2010
The story of these two women gets under your skin. You hope and suffer with them. Wonderfully written.
 Spectacular Jul 29, 2010
This novel was truly fantastic. I haven't read "The Kite Runner", so I really didn't have any preconceived notions of the author. I will definitely be checking out "The Kite Runner" and any future work from him, though.
The book interweaves two stories, both about young women in Afghanistan, both in different times, but both with tumultuous lives. First is Mariam, a girl who lives with her single mother because her father doesn't want people to know he had a bastard daughter. He visits her once a week, but it soon dawns on Mariam that she is unloved by her dad. She decides to visit him for herself, and when she returns, all hell breaks lose.
Second is Laila, my personal favorite. Laila is even younger than Mariam, but more fiesty and seemingly more intelligent. She lives with both her parents, goes to school, has a semi-boyfriend, and has friends. Her two brothers are off fighting in the war, though, and she feels as if her mom doesn't take notice of her at all. This doesn't seem like much, but I can't go farther without revealing too much for a first-time reader.
Basically, all I can say is you need to read this book. It's easily attainable, so there's no excuse not to. It's a good amount of pages, but it flies by so quickly it's hard to believe you've read over 400 pages.
I, actually, wasn't really interested at first, but with all the rave reviews from... well, everyone, it was hard not to read it at some point, so I did.
READ IT! You will most certainly not regret it.
A Thousand Splendid Suns Jul 27, 2010
CD's arrived in excellent condition. The book is amazing in feeling and description. I've enjoyed it very much!
Best book I've read in a long long time. Jul 19, 2010
This book is excellent. I would put it on the must read list. It makes you step back and really think of how lucky we are and how precious life is. The book brings you through a range of emotions, sadness, anger, love....how can these men treat these women like they do? All in all, this is a book that I will be reading again.
A Thousand Splendid Suns vs. The Kite Runner Jul 18, 2010
A comparison of The Kite Runner vs. A Thousand Splendid Suns:
I thought that I would like A Thousand Splendid Suns even more than The Kite Runner, since it was about women. I did think that it was an excellent book, just not quite as good as The Kite Runner.
I think for me, what was lacking was the complexity and depth. A Thousand Splendid Suns was moving, but a straightforward story. The good guys were good and the bad guys were bad. Whereas in The Kite Runner, decent people did bad things for complicated reasons, reasons that made us understand and forgive them. The characters were psychologically complex and had many layers to their personalities, and to the relationships and interactions between them. And the whole book was a complex study of morality and ethics: how and why do we betray people we love, what do we owe those we've betrayed, and especially, can we find a way to be good again? The Kite Runner really made me think, and A Thousand Splendid Suns was just an interesting read.
That being said, it WAS a very interesting read. Whenever I put the book down, I couldn't wait to come back to it. I liked the characters and cared about what would happen to them. And both books created an exceptionally vivid picture of life in Afghanistan, and especially the homes of the main characters and some of the places they visited. I don't usually pay enough attention to description, but in both of these books, I could see the settings as clearly as if I were there.
I recommend both books highly. You will enjoy them most if you read A Thousand Splendid Suns first - save the best for last and you won't be disappointed in A Thousand Splendid Suns.
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