Lacey Kohlmoos - Quicklet on Khaled Hosseinis A Thousand Splendid Suns

One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a gripping story of two women learning how to survive under the thumb of an abusive husband in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Mariam grew up as the illegitimate daughter of a Herat businessman raised by a bitter and depressed single mother. Laila was the beloved daughter of a Kabul man who believed in a world where men and women are equal. When the circumstances of war bring them together under the roof of the cruel Rasheed, their only comfort is in the special bond of sisterhood they form during years cut off from the rest of the world.

Khaled Hosseini weaves a tale of love and survival that begins during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1970s and ends with the American invasion and occupation in the early 2000s. Although ultimately a story of love and friendship, A Thousand Splendid Suns reveals the devastating affects of war on those caught in the middle particularly women and children.

Downtown Kabul, Afghanistan in the 1970s Image viaWikimedia Commons

Hosseinis first novel, The Kite Runner , was an international bestseller that taught the world about the Afghanistan that existed peacefully and quietly before the Soviet occupation, Taliban regime, and American invasion and reconstruction. A Thousand Splendid Suns , focuses on the struggles experienced by Afghanis who lived through these brutal times. It too became a worldwide bestseller upon its publication in 2007, and many believe it is even better than Hosseinis first literary work.

Inspired by the strength and resourcefulness of the Afghani women he met while visiting his homeland in 2003, Hosseini wrote A Thousand Splendid Suns to shed light on how women and girls in Afghanistan have experienced the countrys changing regimes. At one point Lailas father points out that although he despises the Soviets for occupying his country, at least girls went to school and women were free to pursue careers. Hosseinis intimate storytelling makes it all the more devastating for the reader when the highly intelligent and independent Laila is robbed of all her rights by the Taliban. A Thousand Splendid Suns gives a voice to the millions of women who were never allowed one during the Taliban rule and are still struggling to be heard today.

Im sorry, Laila says, marveling at how every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief. And yet, she sees, people find a way to survive, to go on.

Perhaps more than any other of todays authors, Khaled Hosseini manages to embody both the American Dream and hopes for Afghanistans future. He was born in Kabul in 1965 during the countrys now oft-forgotten era of peace and prosperity. Khaleds father worked for the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and Literature at a local high school.

In 1970, Khaleds father was assigned to a post in Tehran, Iran . There Khaled learned to love Persian literature and began writing his own short stories.

Right after the family returned to Kabul in 1973, King Zahir Shah was overthrown by his cousin, Daoud Kahn in a bloodless coup. Although the end of the 200-year monarchy shocked the family, Khaleds father remained in the governments service. In 1976, the family was once again relocated overseas this time to Paris, France.

Daoud Kahns rise to power marked the beginning of Afghanistans political instability , which made it an easy target for the Soviet Union. Two years after the Hosseinis arrived in France, the Soviets invaded and took control of Afghanistan. Unable to return to their homeland, the family obtained political asylum from the United States and moved to San Jose, California in 1980.

The Hosseinis had lost everything and struggled during their first years in California relying on welfare and earnings from their flea market stall. Eventually, Khaleds father managed to find steady employment and get off of welfare.

As the oldest of five siblings, Khaled was determined to forge a better life for himself and his family. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Santa Clara University in 1988 and then a medical degree from the University of California-San Diego. He completed his residency in Los Angeles at Cedars-Sinai Hospital and then practiced as an internist in Mountain View, California from 1996 until 2004.

Khaled published his first novel, The Kite Runner , in 2003 and A Thousand Splendid Suns in 2007. Both have become international bestsellers.

Today, Khaled lives with his wife and two children in Northern California. He has stopped practicing medicine to focus on his writing and duties as a goodwill envoy to the United Nationals High Commissioner for Refugees.

In the coming days and weeks, Laila would scramble frantically to commit it all to memory, what happened next. Like an art lover running out of a burning museum, she would grab whatever she could a look, a whisper, a moan to salvage from perishing, to preserve. But time is the most unforgiving of fires, and she couldnt, in the end, save it all.

Every week Mariam waits anxiously for her father Jalils visit. Living in a small hut on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan with her bitter and depressed mother Nana, she yearns for the day that her father will take her home with him to live with her half siblings and his three wives.

Nana warns Mariam that Jalil will only break her heart, but it is still devastating when he does not show up on her 15th birthday to take her to see Pinocchio as he had promised. Mariam runs into town and finds Jalils house, but he refuses to see her. After spending the night sleeping in the street, Jalils chauffeur takes Mariam back home where she sees that Nana has committed suicide.

When Mariam returns to Jalils house, she thinks that maybe everything will be alright. However, Jalil is a weak man and his three wives force him to get rid of his illegitimate daughter. He marries Mariam to the much older Rasheed who lives in Kabul.

At first, Rasheed treats Mariam well, albeit distantly. But, after she has multiple miscarriages he turns abusive. It becomes clear to Mariam that the only reason Rasheed married her was so that she would bear him sons. When she does not give her husband what he wants, Mariam finds herself trapped in a home with a man who believes that husbands should always keep a good handle on their wives.

Living just down the street from Mariam and Rasheed is a young Kabul beauty Laila. Though largely ignored by her mother, she is doted upon by her father Hakim who believes that women should be treated as equals to men. But, the reality of living in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan comes crashing down on Laila when her two older brothers are killed while fighting with the Mujaheedan. She finds comfort in Tariq, a slightly older neighborhood boy who protects Laila from bullies and other harm.

By the time the violence reaches Kabul, Laila and Tariq are teenagers in love. Circumstances tear them apart when Tariqs family decides to flee to Pakistan. On the eve of his departure they make love for the first time. A few days later, Lailas family also decides to flee, but it is too late. A bomb lands on their house, killing Lailas parents and wounding Laila.

When Rasheed finds Laila in the wreckage of her home, he sees an opportunity. He brings the injured girl home and nurses her back to health with Mariams help. Rasheed knows that Laila was in love with Tariq, so he hires Abdul Sharif to tell the girl that her lover is dead. Laila has realized that she is pregnant with Tariqs baby and completely alone in the world, so she agrees to marry Rasheed.