A Thousand Splendid Suns...in review

I picked up this book because I so much enjoyed reading The Kite Runner (TKR) by Khaled Hosseini. Same author different book, both New York Times bestsellers. I wrote briefly about the Kite Runner in a previous post, I took a breather from the Afghan culture and read The Time Traveler's Wife, and I am so glad I did. A Thousand Spendid Suns (TSS) and TKR are both set in Afghanistan. In TKR they move to the US and the story is told from a young boy's perspective ---he becomes a man throughout the book --- I absolutely loved the book although it did have some really brutal scenes.

TKR's brutal scenes are an afternoon tea compared to the scenes described in TSS. TSS is the story of two women in Afghanistan and the way they come into each other's lives. These books are marvelously written. So much so, that I had flashbacks of TKR during some occasions of TSS and i had such vivid pictures that I had to stop and think if I had really seen it on tv or a movie .... but no certainly it was from earlier scenes depicted by Hosseini. The book is engulfing in so many ways. You fall in love with these women, so young, so vulnerable, yet so brave. The book goes into much of the Afghan history, culture, and way of life and it is absolutely intriguing, in sad ways more than anything, but definitely intriguing. How can these people survive all these hardships? They have suffered for so many years, they dont know what life without war is like.

This book really made me appreciate what I have and the way I was brought up, and most of all the culture into which I was born. Being a woman, and reading this book is heart breaking. I literally wanted to jump into the book and knock the life out of this man for doing what he did to them. How can men have so much disrespect for a woman. a wife. a daughter. how can a father not want "his" daughter because she is not a boy?

Anyway, just wanted to spill some of my thoughts about the book without giving too much away - I highly recommend this book, but be prepared to as Joey from Friends would put it "put the book in the freezer" ---- if you have read the book or if you read it, give me a shout when you are done, I would love to hear your thoughts regarding it.