A Thousand Splendid Suns is set in Afghanistan over the period of the rise and fall of the Taliban. It focuses on two girls who turn into women throughout the course of this book and the changes the Taliban brought into their lives and the bravery of the people who stood fast to pick up the pieces afterwords.
This is a tragically, tragically beautiful book. I have to admit that I liked it more before I read And Then The Mountains Echoed because I could deal with the ending better. Let's face it, if you're reading a Hosseini book, you don't expect a perfectly happy ending. I respect this, it brings a great sense of reality to his stories. There is no gain without loss or happiness without suffering.
As Andrew Stanton said: "Make me care." One of the keys to a great story is making your audience care about your characters. You immediately care about the main character Mariam. She's a bastard living in seclusion with her mother. She spends her weeks waiting for the day her father who comes to visit her once a week. She loves him the most. Her mother is pessimistic and broken by the world and she constantly projects her negativity onto this little girl. At the age of fifteen she loses her mother and instead of taking her in, her father marries her off to a forty-forty five year old shoemaker who lives in another town because his wives do not want her. Mariam loses her mother, her father and soon her identity as the innocent teenager is put in a burqa.
Here Mariam, or Hosseini, makes a very interesting comment. Mariam isn't bothered by the burqa. Why? Because it strips her of her identity. She can walk the streets without people "seeing" her. This may sound horrible but Mariam likes it because no one knows it is her. If she does something then no one knows it was her who did it. She also brings it round to mean that her husband cares for her. He wants to protect her and he has claimed her as his own because he wants no other man to lay eyes on her. She does not see the possessive impulsion in this act but the protective gesture of someone who cares for her. After being rejected by both her mother and her father this is a welcome change of tune.
I have often thought about what I would do if I was born in a country where burqas were the norm or even headscarves. At first, I believed that I would fight the people who wanted me to wear one to my last breath but now I am older and hopefully a little wiser, I can understand why women take it in their stride. Being without an identity does give you a certain type of invincibility. You can protect the "you" that you are in your core because no outside threat can get to you. You don't need to be so defensive of your appearance because no stranger can see it. I can understand that. I, in no way, condone burqas or headscarves. I mean no offense to those who wear one for religious purposes. That is your choice but it's not mine. I do NOT believe that most women wear them because they believe in it but because, like Mariam, they were told to wear it. I live in Turkey and I have seen this with my own eyes. There is noway a child has the mental capacity to decide to wear a headscarf.
The other main character is Laila. Laila is young, educated and beautiful. She is the exact opposite of Mariam. She enjoys her education and even has a boyfriend she loves. The two are the gossip of the village and all expect them to marry when they grow up. Laila grows up in a sense of security while Mariam grows old in seclusion with her husband. And then the Taliban waltz in and turn everything upside down forcing Laila to live in the same world as Mariam. An amazing and love filled bond grows between the two which then leads to a touching act of heroism.
I grew up with news of the Taliban on television, in newspapers, on the internet but I did not know them for exactly what they were until I read this book. What a wonderful opportunity to get an insider's account on everything that happened and the reshaping of a nation. I admire the Afghans for their endurance and strength and I only understand their pain because I took the time to read this book. Hosseini has brought their plight to the spotlight it's now our duty to recognize it.
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