Reading books was one pass time that I sticked on to when I was too bored and I eventually became a bibliophile. I recently read a book that moved my heart deeply :)
Khaled Hossieni has three books (The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns , And the Mountains Echoed) to his credit. I am pretty sure you are wondering why I chose to blog about this one book in particular...As a feminist and a humanist, I found this book to be unlike any other. The protagonists, Laila and Mariam, are inspirational and can make any girl aspire to have the same toughness and spirit they did.
Hosseini's first book THE KITE RUNNER depicts the life of two boys and their love and affection for each other in a war-torn country whereas A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS is the female counterpart.
The novel is split in a dual narrative. Initially, we are dropped into the world of Mariam, an illegitimate child, who lives in Kolba with her spiteful and stubborn mother, Nana. Mariam anxiously waits for the once-a-week visits from her wealthy father, Jalil, a polygamist with 3 wives and 9 children. On her 15th birthday, Mariam intends on watching Pinnochio at her father's theatre and decides to go to his place. She ends up spending the night sleeping on the streets because Jalil refuses to see her. Mariam returns home the next morning only to find that her mother had committed suicide fearing that she had deserted her. Jalil then gets Mariam married to Rashid who is 30 years older to her. Mariam relocates to Kabul with Rashid and finds it difficult to adapt there as she has never moved out of Herat. She genuinely starts caring for Rashid when she gets to know about the demise of Rashid's wife and kids. Mariam finally attains marital bliss but it doesn't last long because of her inability to bear children. As a result, their marriage wears off and Rashid becomes an abusing monster. Hosseini elucidates what life is like for women who are treated as mere child bearing machines through his protagonist Mariam.
The novel is split in a dual narrative. Initially, we are dropped into the world of Mariam, an illegitimate child, who lives in Kolba with her spiteful and stubborn mother, Nana. Mariam anxiously waits for the once-a-week visits from her wealthy father, Jalil, a polygamist with 3 wives and 9 children. On her 15th birthday, Mariam intends on watching Pinnochio at her father's theatre and decides to go to his place. She ends up spending the night sleeping on the streets because Jalil refuses to see her. Mariam returns home the next morning only to find that her mother had committed suicide fearing that she had deserted her. Jalil then gets Mariam married to Rashid who is 30 years older to her. Mariam relocates to Kabul with Rashid and finds it difficult to adapt there as she has never moved out of Herat. She genuinely starts caring for Rashid when she gets to know about the demise of Rashid's wife and kids. Mariam finally attains marital bliss but it doesn't last long because of her inability to bear children. As a result, their marriage wears off and Rashid becomes an abusing monster. Hosseini elucidates what life is like for women who are treated as mere child bearing machines through his protagonist Mariam.
The second narrative gives us a vivid picture of Laila and her best friend named Tariq. They fall in love despite being aware of the social constraints between men and women in Afghanistan. Kabul gets torn by war and Tariq's family decides to deport from Afghanistan. When Laila comes to bid farewell to Tariq, they end up making love. Just when Laila's family is about to leave, a rocket bombards her house killing her parents and grievously injuring her. Laila is then taken in by Rashid, who has selfish motives. Rashid forces Mariam to accept Laila and coaxes Laila into marrying him by making her believe that Tariq is dead.
When Laila gives birth to Aziza, Rashid becomes suspicious because she closely resembled Tariq and becomes abusive to Laila as well. With escalating dangers both inside and outside their home, Laila and Mariam foster a mother-daughter relationship. They even plan on leaving Kabul but are held up in the bus depot and Rashid punishes them by depriving them of food and water for several days. Mariam discovers that her father had lost all his money and life to war and felt sorry for him even after all the turmoil he put her through. A few years later, Laila gives birth to Rashid's son, Zalmai. Situations in Afghanistan becomes worse with the rise of Taliban rule. Rashid's shoe shop gets burned and he is forced to take up jobs that he considers ill-fit for him. He sends Aziza to an orphanage which makes Laila and Mariam endure beatings and stone pelting from the Taliban when they got caught for visiting her.
One fine day, Tariq appears at Rashid's door step and he and Laila are reunited. Laila deduces that Rashid had staged Tariq's death to marry her. Rashid gets to know of Tariq's visit from Zalmai and he starts to thrash Laila in the most cruel way imaginable. Mariam intervenes and kills Rashid when he strangulates Laila. Mariam confesses her crime in order to drift the light from Laila and Tariq and gets decapitated publicly. Laila and Tariq move to Pakistan and live a peaceful life devoid of Taliban and war.
They visit Afghanistan after Taliban's retreat and stop by Mariam's village. They happen to discover a package that Jalil left behind for Mariam and a letter of apology. Laila reads the letter and finds that Jalil regretted his act of sending Mariam away. Laila and Tariq use the money that Jalil leaves for Mariam and set up an orphanage where Laila starts working as a teacher. The story ends with Laila discovering that she is pregnant with her third child and if her baby were a girl , Laila knew she already has a name for her .
They visit Afghanistan after Taliban's retreat and stop by Mariam's village. They happen to discover a package that Jalil left behind for Mariam and a letter of apology. Laila reads the letter and finds that Jalil regretted his act of sending Mariam away. Laila and Tariq use the money that Jalil leaves for Mariam and set up an orphanage where Laila starts working as a teacher. The story ends with Laila discovering that she is pregnant with her third child and if her baby were a girl , Laila knew she already has a name for her .
Love indeed makes people commit heroic acts of self sacrifice and murder.....In the end, it is the mere memory of a person that is often the key to survival !
