Anyone read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hussein?

[MorocconOil]

I started reading this at 7pm last night and couldn't put it down until 1 am when I finished it. It made me sob it was so sad. The depiction of life in Taliban Afghanistan was so harrowing. I think what shocked me most was the realisation that people in our lifetime have experienced such suffering (and still are). The description of a woman having a caesarian without any form of anaesthetic was particularly upsetting.

It certainly gave me some perspective about my own life and how easy it is in comparison.

Has anyone else read it?

no but will look out for it now is it non fiction? Any thing else you recommend

not as good as kite runner, but a pretty good read. gosh you read quickly

It's fiction and written by the same writer as The Kite Runner.

It's the first book I've read for ages so no other recommendations from me.

ihaven't read it yet but I read the Kite runner recently and I heard Khaled Hosseini on the radio talkign to Mariella Frostrup ( can't remember the name of the programme - radio 4 ). He read an extract from the Thousand Splendid Suns which involves an Afghani man forcing his young wife to chew on a mouthful of stones as punishment for not cooking the rice properly. I found it very shocking.

I loved the Kite Runner but I don't know if I could cope with this book - especially in the light of your comments,mimizan. It just sounds too painful . Should I read it though? part of me thinks we owe it to the women of Afghanistan to read it, however middle class and pretensious that may sound.

Yes. Have just finished it for book club next week - also sobbed, really sobbed, through the final section. Great book. One which needs to be read.

Yes I thought it was even better than the Kite-Runner

and I thought that was fabulous

Favourite book of last year

ashamed to say 13yr old dd has but not me - she asked for it for christmas ( i think she must be in love with her english teacher!)

This is on my to read shelf at present... am not looking forward to it now though

i couldnt put it down. I was very shocked and horrified by this book. It was a difficult book to read due to the traumatic lives of the main characters. I was also shocked by the inhuman trreatment of women and the fact that there wasnt an escape for them.It horrifies me when I think that women have been treated with such brutality only a few years ago and even now in some regions.

EachPeach, don't be put off, it is harrowing at times but beautifully written, imo.

Well- I'll probably be reading it next!

I heard Richard & Judy talking about it the other evening on their book club/Galaxy awards thing.

It sounds great (but challenging) so I'm off to spend my Christmas voucher on it tomorrow!!

I have just finished Half of a Yellow Sun which I also enjoyed...

I read it before Christmas, and I can't get the stadium scene out of my head.

I thought it was as good as the Kite Runner, but it resonated more with me, just because it was about women's lives. It's a real eye opener.

I have decided i will read this even though I know I am going to be really upset by it, this is a really good thread.

I read it and was totally engrossed, and appalled by what has been happening there. It was an utterly heartbreaking story.

Our book club read it as all loved Kit Runner, we were 50/50 on which was the preferred one. I read it quickly to get it over with, as it was very harrowing.

It's real life, it's happened and is happening still, that is what is heartbreaking.

I read it for Book Club too. Really loved it.

Harrowing yes. But still really glad I read it.

Loved The Kite Runner too.

Wasn't so keen on Half of a Yellow Sun.

I can't remember any of the names, and I don't want to be a spoiler, but it was the scene towards the end when she goes back to the place where thingummy grew up that really, really got me.

I have just got it delivered today with a few other books from Amazon. I'm not sure i'll read it straight away if it's that sad though as I am very post natal!

Cadelaide, That bit really, really got to me too. However I think that was partly because the 2 women had got to know eachother so well and you could really sense Laila's love for Mariam.

I fond it amazing that a man could write so well about friendship between two women.

Ledodgy, I might give it a miss in your current hormonal state. I was pre-menstrual when I read it and I can't remember ever sobbing so hard as when I read that book. It was quite therapeutic though, although like MrsMuddle I am finding it hard to get some of the images out of my head.

I have just finished reading it I have to admit to crying through the last bits of the book,

and I am nether hormonal or emotional I was more upset about the relationships mariam had to live through and how that bit ended (trying not to spoil it) I too can remember the book that to me shows how good it is

I am going to get the Kite Runner is it as good?

I read The Kite Runner 3 years ago, and can't remember it that well. It was good but not as gripping. I think I found this one so moving as it felt close to me because of the age of my DC.

i read it in two days-on holiday-notreally lying in the sun material.i loved it, inspite if the subject being hard to bear. I thought it was amazingly evocotive especially of the hut/house where she started out .

Loved 1000 SS.
I was so relieved it had a happy ending of sorts but sadly the happy ending was the least realistic part of the book.

Those who've read it - do you assume that something awful was going on in the orphanage to the daughter or am I just infering because of what happened in the Kite Runner orphanage?