A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns is possibly the best book I'll read this year. (The Book Thief was also excellent, it's a close race between them at this point.) ATSS is the story of Mariam and Laila, two women who live in Afghanistan from the early 70s or so until almost present times. Laila was born in 1977, making her two years younger than I am, which figured heavily in my reaction to the story. Their story is set against the very real political actions of the times- Soviet invasion, Mujahideens, the Taliban. I admit, this is not an area of politics that I know much about. My husband was nice enough to give me mini history lessons as the need arose.

This book was so emotionally hard for me. It took me something like three weeks to read it. I kept reaching points where I had to stop for days to recover my equilibrium. I finally emailed someone who had read it and forced her to tell me that it ended well. (That would be Trish, of Trish's Reading Nook. Her review is here.) The book, though it is fiction, seemed so very real to me. Mariam and Laila are so well done, so different and so believable. I kept saying to myself, "this can't be happening, it can't, it can't!" My mind could not comprehend that in 1994 when the Taliban invaded and women had to be covered in burqas, and couldn't leave home without a man, that I was 19 years old and in college. I had my own apartment. I was wearing swimsuits in mixed company! It was fiction, but it was so real. I cried so many times. Two points were worse than others (spoilers here. PLEASE come talk to me about it if you've read it! Shawna, if you're reading this DO NOT go read them!)

A Thousand Splendid Suns was beautiful and horrifying. It affected me more than any book ever has, I think. I felt sick while reading it. It was the first time that I have ever wanted very very badly to read the ending first. I didn't, but I really wanted to.

Trish recommended that I read The Storyteller's Daughter by Saira Shah and I picked that up at the library today. That one is non-fiction, also about Afghanistan. I also have two books to follow up The Faith Club with that deal with Christianity, Judaism and Islam (Peace Be Upon You by Zachary Karabell and The History of God by Karen Armstrong.) Holy Blood, Holy Grail has come up in conversation lately. I realize I am combining two topics- religion and oppression, but it all blends together for me. I am not at all sure when I'll get to these, what with all the challenges I'm in for and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being less than a week away, but I am certainly all fired up for it. You can bet I'll be paying closer attention to the news now, and trying to imagine myself in their shoes. This was a very good book, I'll be recommending that everyone I know read it.

(This is my first book for the Saturday Review of Books Challenge.)