book review: a thousand splendid suns

i recently finished reading khaled hosseini's second published book, "a thousand splendid suns."

hosseini wove a tragic tale of two afghani women who went from living in a free afghanistan to living through the soviet invasion, the mujahadeen rule and finally, taliban rule.

hosseini's words provided colorful descriptions of rural life in herat and modern life in kabul pre-soviet invasions. he then provided powerful (albeit depressing) imagery of what the mujahideen and later the taliban did to afghanistan.

hosseini also did a good job of creating strong female characters who may have come from different backgrounds and generations, but were both depicted as three dimensional: they had fears, they had strength and resolve, they felt jealousy, they had self-doubt, they had courage, they engaged in acts of stupidity, they loved (or not). clearly, these women were not perfect. they were flawed. but, hosseini successfully created complex women whom you want to embrace and nurse their wounds, and at the same time, scream at them because of their seeming inability to escape from their oppressive lives.

the book is definitely not a happy read. but, just like the kite runner, i felt that i learned a little bit about afghanistan and was able to enjoy (in a depressing way) a story about finding a little bit of happiness amidst a world full of tragedy, sadness and repression.