Book 19: "A Thousand Splendid Suns"

"Miriam" from A Thousand Splendid Suns. I doubt she wore mascara, though...

Welcome back, Reid! After a 6 week hiatus (thank you, summer school), I've picked up where I left off with Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. I guess I'm kind of going backwards in his anthology, first And the Mountains Echoed and now this. Will I read The Kite Runner next? Hmm maybe. 

Knowing nothing about the premise/plot of A Thousand Splendid Suns, it was interesting that I noticed a major clue: the author's dedication to "the women of Afghanistan." Hosseini's books are always derivative of history, the reader is guaranteed to know about history and life in the Middle East through contextual details, time jumps and through the eyes of many characters. Whereas And the Mountains Echoed was written in the vein of Babel or Crash, with interwoven stories and the conclusion that "everyone is connected," to me, A Thousand Splendid Suns seemed to be a socio-political statement, a spotlight or maybe even a defense of the "untold stories" of the real casualties of the recent conflicts in the Middle East: women and a stable society. 

Without going into too many details about the plot, I really liked a quote in Part 4 of the book: "A woman who will be like a rock in a riverbed, enduring without complaint, her grace not sullied but shaped by the turbulence that washes over her." And turbulence was in no short supply. At one point, I felt like I was back watching Precious (the movie) with disaster after disaster piled on the characters. Just when you think it can't get worse, it does, and just when you think something good will finally happen, the women are faced with new lows. The thing is, it didn't feel like a season of Grey's Anatomy (or any ABC drama) where the orchestrator of the plot is forced to rely on progressively more extreme, contrived calamities to drive the story and heighten viewers' fear for the characters' lives. The devastatingly tragic lives of Miriam and Laila are probably more or less average representations of the women of Afghanistan. Voting and suffrage are nothing compared to rape, beatings, public humiliation, absolute subservience, burqas, mutilation, illegitimate children, being left in a ditch, getting blown up or being executed by firing squad. In it's darkest moments, I felt like I was on the verge of tears. I could feel the brass knuckles, the impact of the belt, the dehydration and desperation. In regards to the portrayal of womens' suffering in Afghanistan, the story hit me square in the stomach. I almost felt compelled to donate to the author's refugee charity. 

The other way in which A Thousand Splendid Suns impacted me was in providing perspective into the situation in the Middle East. Ever since September 11th, we've been inundated daily with news from that region of the world. Whether it be Afghanistan, Iraq or Pakistan, or more recently, Egypt, it's probably difficult to keep up if you aren't aware of the historical circumstances and relevant basic information (Who is on who's side? How do you pronounce their names? Who are the good guys?). I'm willing to bet that the majority of Americans wouldn't be able to tell you what is happening halfway around the world, much less within the U.S. After reading the book, I have a general idea of how Afghanistan and the U.S. came to a head on September 11th, 2001. I also have vivid visuals about the landscape before and after the takeover by the Taliban. it's hard for younger people (myself included) to even remember a time before we had legions of troops in the Middle East, before 9/11, but for "older" people, they might remember when there was peace and stability. The Middle East is the Soviet Union of our parents' generation, and the Germany of the generation before. We'll continue to see villains and movie plots originating in the ME, and maybe we'll be content to rely on stereotypes of bearded men in turbans and cloaks to symbolize the "bad guy." It's hopeful to get a glimpse of what the ME was like before the wars, devastation and suicide bombers. There was relative prosperity, rules for women in cities were progressive and it seemed as though they might industrialize and progress economically. Unfortunately, the breakdown of leadership and the ensuing coups destabilized the region. The rest of the world didn't help, or didn't know how to help effectively, and in some instances, problems were exacerbated. What happened in the ME is tragic, and seeking peace might be the global issue of my generation. 

Overall, A Thousand Splendid Suns gets an A-. The ending was just too weak to bring me to my knees and convince me that it will change my life. Part 4 was basically the author's wrap up of loose ends. Laila visiting Miriam's old kolba was a cinematic ending, written for the full effect of bringing the reader false satisfaction. It was impossible for me, having read 390 pages of horror, to let the plot touch down safely. I feel like there was a way to end the book without overdoing the sappiness and putting out the drama. 

Rating: A-