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Sunday, November 30, 2008



A Thousand Splendid Suns
By Khaled Hosseini

To me, this has got to be one of the best books that I had ever read in my whole life. Even until now I can still remember the storyline. The novel is divided into four parts. The first part focuses exclusively on Mariam, the second and fourth parts focus on Laila, and the third part switches focus between Mariam and Laila with each chapter.

Mariam was born an illegitimate child in 1959 after a wealthy business man (Jalil) slept with his house maid (Nana) and got her pregnant but did not marry her. Mariam and Nana lived in a small hut for 15 years until Mariam was married off to a man from Kabul when she was 15. Her husband was abusive and cruel and he forced her to wear a burqa even though many liberal women in Kabul were free to go without it.

Laila was born just before the Russian invasion and had dreams of a life of education and travel. A bomb kills most of her family and she recovers from her wounds in Mariam's house. Laila and her childhood friend, Tariq became closer and develop a deep love for each other. Tariq’s family however decides to leave Kabul due to civil war.

The last few parts of the novel tell about life when Laila, Mariam and her husband were living together. Towards the end of the story, it was told that Laila and Tariq returned to Afganistan after leaving the country for many years. They finally decided to start a family. At the very end of the novel, both of them were debating about the male names of their baby. Laila however, have a name in mind if the baby was a girl. It was none other than her good friend, Mariam.

Author:
Luanzon Nella Marielle Malig
MB0705
071815F


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