I adore reading and love finding new worlds to immerse myself in. After reading The Kite Runner a few months ago, I was anxious to begin A Thousand Splendid Suns by the same author. In our war torn world I think it especially necessary to learn about other cultures before making judgements and I am grateful for the insight into the middle east that this author shares. Of course, these are fictional novels, but are based in truth and the author grew up in Afghanistan before moving to the US in the 80's. It was great to be able to understand terms and names of leaders that we only hear on the news: jihad, Taliban, etc. . .A Thousand Splendid Suns tells the stories of two Afghan women whose paths cross when they are married to the same man. One of the women is my age, and though none of the events of our lives is the same, I can identify with her. It defines jealousy and all of its ugliness between the women, the husband, and the children. I especially appreciated the way and depth that Hosseini explores familial relations. This is a difficult read because of its honesty. There are unconventional heroes but no one really wins. The writing is exquisite and uses middle eastern poetry to bind thoughts. If you are wanting a great read and more insight into why we might be fighting middle eastern terrorism, I recommend this novel. Keep in mind that some subjects will leave you with the taste of bile in your mouth and a sting on your cheek, but every page is worth it! What are you reading and what do you recommend?
2 comments:
One I cannot recommend: Twilight by Stephenie Meyers. First of all, who spells Stephanie like that? Secondly, and more importantly, she made a gross error when she chose to write the book in first person. It's horribly written. I made myself read the whole thing just to make sure.
Also in the young adult genre, I heartily recommend The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. It is captivating, and in contrast to the lame vampire book, is extremely well-written.
These two books are firsts for both authors, so I couldn't help comparing them.
I will have to give 'The Kite Runner' a read. It sounds really interesting. I just read 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter'. I don't know if I'd exactly recommend it. I could not put it down because I was so anxious to see how it ended. It was really depressing and I just felt really sad the whole time for the whole family in the story. You can tell I'm not a book critic right?
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