The thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls...

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Afghanistan... my first memory of the country is associated with the movei "Kabul Express". I'm not sure what your views about the movie are, but for my it was a numbing experience. Even today, the one scene that defines the movie for me is the one where John Abraham offers to play football with  kid on low wall and then the kid turning around to reveal a beautiful smile on his face and have only one leg... What you see on his face is a simple joy at being called to play, like any other child would feel....and you realise that he's OK with having only one leg...that is the chill factor of the movie...this tragic acceptance for a life that's less than perfect...

I was angry for a long time after watcing the movie. I could not find any rhyme or reason behind all the violence. I could not justify the destruction of a BEAUTIFUL country. Could not fathom the "why's" behind all the "what's". It broke my heart. It devestated my to know that all my anger and anguish was impotent. That I will not be able to change or alter anything. That I could not do anything to make it better. That options like joining peace corps or UN missions required a certain type of mindset and decision making powers that I do not posses.

Its been long since I saw the movie. almost half a decade now. The feeling has gone blunt. The coutry now at a far corner of mind as mind became occupied with other things to feel outraged about...and that's when Khalid Hosseini happened...

A Thousand Splendid Suns (hereon referred as ATSS) has been on my "to read" list for quite a while. I've been postponing it for a myriad of reasons...inavailability of paperback, time and lack of occassions to read it in softcopy versions were just a few of them...(somewhere deep down, I guess I was just scared of what might unfold) I finally picked it up last week on my Kindle, for I had no better option. And I'm glad that I got around to read this one...

If you want a one word review of the book...it should most definitely be "turbulent". Reading ATSS is a turbulent experience, on ALL levels. For a female, for a home-maker, for a mother, sister and a daughter. For a female with her opinions and freedom to express them. For a person who had been given all changes and oppportunities to learn, excell and earn her keep. For a human being who was born and raised in a FREE country. Whose biggest concern in a day revolves around "catching a bus such that she reaches on office on time" or "what new to cook for dinner tonight". Reading ATSS makes you feel previledged to be born in a country where it is safe to sleep in your bed at night; where if you fee like you could keep your lights on and windows open all through the nght; where you know your husband / wife/ sister/ brother / mother / father will be back home for dinner post their day in office EVERYDAY; Where if need be you can walk up the market to buy whatever you want; Go out and dine if you feel like it; Where going to a doctor is as simple as switching on an electric bulb....

But thats not all... ATSS is also turbulent because it makes you see, feel and experience a range of emotions that you could rather live without easily... Mariam's rebelliousness, her affections for her father, resentment towards her mother, her dreams, her wishes ad her respectful love for Mullah Faizullah... Laila and her predicaments, her wishes and wishful longing for her mothers attention, her respect, love and protectiveness towards her baabi, her joys and smiles with friends and in Tariq, their games and dreams, pland for a future none of them is sure about.... Two lives, two dreams, two females from two very different times and so very different families with different values and mindset...thrown together by fate, uncertainty of life in a war riddled Afghanistan and one man... Rasheed.

Where Mariam and Laila are the white end of the color spectrum, Rasheed is the stark opposite white of it. He is the embodiment of corrupted Islamic ideals. Who believes the rightful place of a female is at his feet. Who believes and enforces the tradition of burqua on both Mariam and Laila. He has no quelms about raising his hand on his wife, or rather who believes that it is his right to do so. There are times where you want to object, do something to affect or change what is happening in the narrative, and THAT should tell you everything about the narrative style and power of words of Mr. Hosseini.

Somewhere between pages 1 and 5; you simply forget that you are reading a novel. You are dragged into a life and time that is effortlessly built around you and consumes you soon after. ATSS has all that makes it a memorable and impactful (if thats even a word) novel. The language is simple and flow is effortless. Events straightforward and entirely plausible. Characters believable and narration simple and smooth. It takes you through the times and life of not only of the Protagonists Mariam and Laila; but also of Afghanistan. For the country, its history, politics and sociology plays as vital a role as either Mariam or Laila. You not only bear witness to the ups and downs of Mariam, Laila, Rasheed and Tariq's life but also of Afghanistan. You see it fighting USSR, Rebel factions, emergence of Taliban and aftermath of Twin Towers and US insurgence. Step by another step, you witness the changes, the rise and fall of hopes and dreams, properties and cities, of values and cultures. You witness and feel for the country and the countless, heartless violence that country has suffered. It makes you thingk and it makes you restless... Isn't that EXACTLY what a great novel should do?

To end this review I'm using the verse which inspired the title of the novel... The title comes from the Josephine Davis translation of the poem "Kabul", by the 17th-century Iranian poet Saib Tabrizi:

Every street of Kabul is enthralling to the eye

Through the bazaars, caravans of Egypt pass

One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs

And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls