A Thousand Splendid Suns

I finished this book last night and absolutely loved it. I enjoyed The Kite Runner, but I LOVED this book.

After forcing myself to make it through My Life as a Traitor, I had to distance myself from tales of political unrest, war and cruelty. I indulged myself with the Twilight series, Charlaine Harris' books and the Ghostgirl books and then finally came back to a serious read.

A Thousand Splendid Suns spans over more than 40 years, and tells the story of two (maybe three) families, eventually intertwined by both love and tragedy. A boiled-down synopsis might describe it as a modern-day history of Afghanistan told from a woman's perspective.

I completely disagree with the reviews online that state that the characters lack depth. I easily envisioned each of them while reading: Mariam, Laila, Tariq, Rasheed, Aziza, Jalil and Zalmai.

In fact, for some inexplicable reason, I pictured Zalmai as the little boy in "Thirteen Ghosts," which is a terrible movie and shouldn't have been memorable in any way, but there you have it. Oh, and I pictured Mullah Faizullah as somewhat Gandalf-like. I do NOT mean that as even the slightest insult. I adore both Mullah Faizullah and Gandalf.

A Thousand Splendid Suns begins with scandal and lost-youth, moves forward all the while with non-fictional war-related details, and by the end tells the heartbreaking story of an unlikely yet fiercely faithful friendship. The history behind the scenes never overshadows the central story, but instead makes it all the more powerful.

I highly recommend this book. It is beautifully-written and surprisingly suspenseful - a story expertly executed.

I had a good cry when I was finished - largely in part because I'd reached the end.