A thousand splendid suns is set in Afghanistan 🇦🇫 during the attack from the jihadists on the people in Afghan.
Years later, the Taliban take over and the country is renamed The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
They introduce the sharia law where women are not to move alone on the streets and were only allowed to move in the accompany of a man. The women had to cover their bodies from head to toe. They were not allowed to work or go to school - they only stayed home.
Adultery was punished by stoning to death and theft by cutting off the hand from the wrist. This and many other laws were imposed on the Afghan people during this time.
In a thousand splendid suns, Khaled sets out to shade light on 2 protagonists - Mariam and Laila from the 1960s through to the 2000s.
Mariam and Laila are born a decade apart and each one due to their life circumstances, have their lives intersect because of a man they both call husband - Rasheed.
"Time is the most unforgiving of fires."
Khaled emphasizes as he reveals the stories of 2 young women, born years apart to different families in different parts of Afghanistan, but whose dysfunctional families have worsened by the war and this changes the trajectory of their destiny, causing their lives to intersect.
Nana, a lady said to be possessed with a jinn bears a child with Jalil, a rich businessman in Herat, Afghanistan.
Nana and Mariam her daughter are rejected by Jalil and kept away from the rest of the public.
Mariam grows up in a small village a few kilometres with her mother where Kalil visits every Thursday.
On her fifteenth birthday, her wish was to visit the city where her father Kalil lived with his 3 wives and 10 children. She desired to have a family and meet her siblings.
When Kalil doesn't show up as promised, Mariam walks to Herat to look for her father and his family. She finds out he is one of the richest business men in Herat.
Mariam spends that night on the floor, outside her father's mansion, because he doesn't want her near any of his children.
Very distressed, Mariam returns home where she finds her mother's body hanging by a tree.
From being rejected by her father, her mother commits suicide and in a blink of an eye, her life changes for the worst.
At 15, Mariam is forced into marriage with a 40 year old shoemaker that lives in Kabul, about 60kms from her father.
Helplessly, she walks into this new life as she tries to navigate the trials of a young wife, without an education.
She starts to feel happy about the idea of having a family of her own, a sense of belonging, and as that sinks in, she gets a miscarriage of her first child. As fate may have it, she goes on to have 8 more.
Amidst the war, Babi & Mammy, who are neighbours to Mariam and Rasheed in Kabul, give birth to Laila.
She quickly grows up and starts school where she meets a couple of friends - Tariq, Gitti and Hasina.
This dream is cut short amidst the war caused by the jihad in Afghanistan and it all comes crumbling down in front of Laila’s face, almost impossible for her to handle [for even us the readers].
In a bid to flee the country to Pakistan, Laila loses both her parents when a rocket hits their home.
Around the same time, Gitti, one of her friends is torn apart by a missle as her body parts spread across the street.
Before she can even take on this loss, she receives news about the death of her one legged lover - Tariq.
He had been attacked by the rebels too, lost his leg the second time and some of his intestines out...it was only a matter of time before the pain killed him.
Rasheed, Mariam's husband offers Laila his house only if she accepts to marry him.
Mariam having been married to Rasheed for 18 years, Rasheed forces Laila to marry him if she wants to live in their house, getting free food and shelter.
In his words, "I am not the Red Cross Society"
Laila at the age of 14 accepts to marry Rasheed who is now 60 years.
Mariam who at 15 loses her mother, her only support system and later rejected by her father is forced to marry Rasheed.
Laila, who is stranded in a war torn area, with gunshots all around, and weighed down by the death of all the familiar faces cannot run away to the nearest country.
The 2 protagonists meet … under Rasheed’s roof… A coincidence!
This and many more stories of pain, suffering and war, are unfolded in Khaled Hosseini's book.
While reading this book, I felt my body transferred to Kabul and living every moment with Laila & Mariam.
Mariam and Laila portrayed faces of grievances unspoken, burdens gone unprotested and destinies endured.
For child brides who lost their childhood to war and rejection. Who knew no education but to look after a home.
Reading this book reminded me of literature themes when highlighting the impact of stories and how they relate to the present day.
Resounding themes in this book are pain, suffering, male chauvinism, polygamous marriages, teenage marriages and domestic violence.
It is soooo sad to be true but too well written to put it down.
To imagine that pieces of these stories, or even worse, still happen in some of our societies breaks my heart.
Lastly, only pick up this book if you are emotionally stable and you can easily process the events unfolded in Khaled Hosseini's a thousand splendid suns.
