Book Review

I love to read. I was one of those kids who would read any chance I got. That meant at night I would sneak a flashlight under the covers so I could finish a book if I was supposed to be asleep. I never cared if I was punished by being sent to my room because I could read. Long car trips were not so bad if I could read.

As an adult I still love to read. As a mommy, I do not have as much time to read and I feel I am often reading books for content (ie parenting books) and not for pleasure.

I just finished reading a book for fun that I though I would share with you all because I so thoroughly enjoyed it. It is A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. He also wrote The Kite Runner which you may have read. It has been out for about 8 months now so many of you may have already read it. I planned to read it this summer but it was just too busy. I almost bought it in Norway but it was just too expensive. Upon returning home, I had to wait for a copy to be returned at the library.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is set in Afghanistan over the last three decades. It chronicles two generations through the pre-soviet era, Soviet invasion, the rise of the Taliban and the post-Taliban reconstruction. Honestly, I know every little about Afghanistan and what I do know is mainly from post 9/11 news stories. Of course those are not going to give me the best picture of the country of the people that live there.

This story of two women, Mariam and Laila, whose lives become intertwined, gives a more human view of Afghanistan over the last 30 years. Most people are normal, struggling to survive, wanting the same things for themselves and their family as you and I want. Not everyone in the Middle East is caught up in the politics and issues that make so many Americans so prejudice against them.

This book reall helped me to both learn more of the history of Afghanistan and to see the people of the Middle East, especially oppressed women, in a new light. I highly recommend this book to all of you.