A Thousand Splendid Suns

I am sold. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini must be one of the best books I have read in a very long time. It's becoming almost impossible to put the book down.

It depicts the national and personal tragedies that befall two women in war-torn Afghanistan and how they form an unique, special bond. I must admit, I was moved to tears at certain parts.

A review from Publishers Weekly:

Afghan-American novelist Hosseini follows up his bestselling The Kite Runner with another searing epic of Afghanistan in turmoil. The story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny through the lives of two women. Mariam is the scorned illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, forced at age 15 into marrying the 40-year-old Rasheed, who grows increasingly brutal as she fails to produce a child. Eighteen later, Rasheed takes another wife, 14-year-old Laila, a smart and spirited girl whose only other options, after her parents are killed by rocket fire, are prostitution or starvation. Against a backdrop of unending war, Mariam and Laila become allies in an asymmetrical battle with Rasheed, whose violent misogyny is endorsed by custom and law. There was no cursing, no screaming, no pleading, no surprised yelps, only the systematic business of beating and being beaten. Hosseini gives a forceful but nuanced portrait of a patriarchal despotism where women are agonizingly dependent on fathers, husbands and especially sons, the bearing of male children being their sole path to social status. His tale is a powerful, harrowing depiction of Afghanistan, but also a lyrical evocation of the lives and enduring hopes of its resilient characters.