A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini was recommended to me by my friend, Michelle, and I'm glad I read it.
So often when I think of wars, I feel detached from it because it is happening over there, but "over there" is home for someone and those someones are suffering greatly because of war.
A Thousand Splendid Suns begins during a time of peace in Afganistan where we meet Mariam as a youg girl. Unfortunately, she is the bastard daughter of a rich man who already has three wives, and while he loves her, he is unwilling to help her the way he should because of the wishes of those three wives.
Years go by and we meet Laila. At first I thought their stories would not connect and kept thinking, but what about Mariam - what happened to Mariam because I liked her so much. Laila's path will cross with Mariam's because of tragedy. When their stories get woven together, we learn why women need a voice in government. We learn why women and children are the most vulnerable during war. We learn how women support one another with love, caring, and superhuman courage in times of peace and in times of turmoil.
This book is incredibly sad; however, it is beautifully written and has a good ending. The characters even the evil Rasheed are well written and complex.
This story shows the reality of war, what it does to people, and why we need to care about what goes on over there. People like Mariam and Laila are good reasons for the USA to get involved in wars in other countries.
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