Suns

After finishing "A Thousand Splendid Suns" I am thankful to be a woman who lives in the US. I get angry sometimes seeing the good old boy network in play around the office, but compared to what the women in Afghanistan have gone through, I am reminded that I don't have it so bad after all.

This novel was well written and the story opened my eyes to the struggles that many families have gone through in Afghanistan. I can't understand what it would be like to live in a country that has been at war for over four decades. There are something like 4 million refugees from Afghanistan that are living in Pakistan. I can't imagine feeling like it is unsafe to go back to where you grew up or lived for years and years.


The bond between the main characters (Mariam and Laila) is so volatile yet in the end they are almost like mother and daughter or sisters. Mariam lived through so much--she was born to a single woman so right off the bat she was looked down upon. Then at 14 she goes to live with her father (she didn't know if was her father until later) and he immediately marries her off to this abusive middle-aged widower. She can't have a baby and suffers for it. At the same time Laila's story begins and she is orphaned when her family dies from a bomb exploding right near their house. She is taken in by Rasheed (Mariam's husband) and eventually becomes his second wife.

This has been one of the best books I've read this year and I've read quite a few good ones! (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Animal Vegetable Miracle, Jane Eyre)

On to "Snowflower and the Secret Fan" which is our next book club read.