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Summary
Summary
Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, the #1 New York Times bestseller A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.
"Just as good, if not better, than Khaled Hosseini's best-selling first book, The Kite Runner ."-- Newsweek
Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today.
Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.
A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.
Author Notes
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan on March 4, 1965. He received a bachelor's degree in biology from Santa Clara University in 1988 and a medical degree from the University of California-San Diego's School of Medicine in 1993. He was a practicing internist from 1996 to 2004.
While in medical practice, he began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, which was published in 2003. His other books include A Thousand Splendid Suns and And the Mountains Echoed. In 2006, he was named a Goodwill Envoy to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. He established The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Atossa Leoni, who is German-born of Afghan ancestry, was clearly chosen because she can pronounce all the Afghan words-a big plus, but it's the only plus in this bad reading. Dropping her voice on the last word of every sentence, her phrasing is regularly rendered ungrammatical by breaks at the wrong points. Her narrow vocal range makes for a dull and often difficult listening experience. Despite the reader, the book holds the listener thanks to Hosseini's riveting story-an in-depth exploration of Afghan society in the three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban cruelty. He impels us to empathize with and admire those most victimized by Afghan history and culture-women. Mariam, a 15-year-old bastard whose mother commits suicide, is married off to 40-year-old Rasheed, who abuses her brutally, especially after she has several miscarriages. At 60, Rasheed takes in 14-year-old Laila, whose parents were blown up by stray bombs. He soon turns violent with her. Although Laila is united with her childhood beloved, the potential return of the Taliban always shadows their happiness. Simultaneous release with the Riverhead hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 26). (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
Hosseini sees whether he can top The Kite Runner's remarkable recordA103 weeks on the New York Times best sellers listAwith this tale of two very different Afghan women over 30 years. With a national tour. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.