Dear friends,
Again I was gone for a long time; had typhoid, it turned nasty and had to get admitted to a hospital.But now that I am back mates good times are ahead! Bookworm's Corner promises to discuss any book,any novel fiction or non-fiction,any story or article worth talking about no matter how old or new it is. Friends recently I read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It's an extraordinary novel in every aspect and I literally cried with both admiration of the exhilarating storytelling and the losses of the novel's characters. It's an intense reading, a deeply touching and engrossing saga of love found and lost, a unique tale of a mother and daughter that will keep you bewitched long after you have turned the last page. Also a reader will, I am sure will rediscover Afghanistan-its people, flora and fauna, it's long oppression's and exploitation's, its history and it's indomitable courage and spirit. It is for these reasons that I would like to talk about it first before the other books I promised.
The phenomenal novel is about mostly the two central characters Mariam and Laila and their lives. Around 30 years of Afghan history is portrayed along with their changing lives.The author was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and came to the U.S. in 1980. So he weaves a tale of his motherland straight from his heart. The novel opens with the sentence " Mariam was five years old the first time she heard the word harami". This illegitimacy shaped her entire life. Mariam was born to Nana and Jalil Khan, a successful businessman of Herat. Nana was a housekeeper of Jalil's house and lived later alone with young Mariam in a kolba in pitiful poverty in the outskirts of the fictional town of Gul Daman.A bitter resentful woman, Nana committed suicide heartbroken when Mariam was only fifteen. Mariam worshipped her father and craved for his attention which he mostly kept aside for his other ten children from his married three wives. Mariam was married to Rasheed, a shoemaker from Kabul, thirty years his senior and a widower. The nikka was done in haste and the poor motherless girl left for an uncertain future in the same day. Although marriage gave her enough to eat, a safe haven and some fleeting happiness, her ill fate soon took over. Rasheed turned extremely violent as his desire to have a son turned awry with Mariam's miscarriages. He beat her mercilessly and yet Mariam resilient as ever did her duties faithfully. But her life changed suddenly with the entry of Laila in their lives. Laila, a daughter of a schoolmaster who lived in the neighbourhood dreamt of marrying her love of life, Tariq who had left for Pakistan but only at fifteen her life was blown apart as a rocket shattered their home killing her parents. She was nursed back to health by Mariam and Rasheed and because of some intriguing circumstances she married the old Rasheed that changed her life completely. Slowly a deep bond was forged for eternity between Mariam and Laila. Mariam became a mother to Laila, something she had always craved for. She loved and protected Laila's children Aziza & Zaimai. Mariam ultimately found her place in life, found love and companionship in Laila and it is for her sake that she sacrifices her life liberating Laila's. Mariam is executed by the Taliban for murdering Rasheed. Laila finds true happiness again with Tariq in Pakistan and after paying homage to Mariam in her old kolba in Gul Daman she comes back to Kabul with her now husband Tariq to become a Farsi teacher in an orphanage.
From Soviet invasion to the Talibans, we get to vividly see from this brilliant novel how the lives of the people of Afghanistan, specially it's women were torn apart. A Thousand Splendid Suns shows us how the oppression of the Talibans knew no bounds; they even beat the women severely. Readers will surely be shocked how Mariam was called hamshira (sister) by a Taliban who executed her prior to her execution. Also the way Laila undergoes a Cesarean operation to have a child without anesthesia is beyond comprehension. The wonderfully lucid language will surely transport it's readers to Mariam and Laila's world effortlessly. The precarious struggle against starvation,cruelty and fear along with startling heroism is shown beautifully. It's a gripping tale, a suspenseful epic and definitely a must read for all.I salute the female endurance and their daily struggle.
Friends I hope you all like this post and do tell me if you want to know more about it! I will soon be back with more.Till then Goodbye and Happy reading.
