A Thousand Splendid Suns

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Hosseini, Khaled	4-week checkout	Due 03-20-2024
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Hosseini, Khaled	4-week checkout	Due 03-17-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Hosseini, Khaled	4-week checkout	Due 03-17-2024

Two women born a generation apart witness the destruction of their home and family in war-torn Kabul, losses incurred over the course of thirty years that test the limits of their strength and courage.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Gripping submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on June 17, 2014, 7:59pm A gripping and mind-blowing book following two women in Afghanistan from 1959 to 2003. Both were loved as girls, though one was raised traditionally and one was raised as a free-thinker. Both, however, were caught in circumstances outside of their control, and then given to a man who controlled them in a society that did not value women.

How they experienced life, how they survived the daily and yearly traumas, how they formed relationships that gave them strength to endure was both heartbreaking and heartening.

How people around the world endure and recover from decades of violence and war baffles me. This book makes me grateful for the life I have, and feel more responsible than ever for the actions of my country. We are complicit in the pain of others, but we must be aware.

Read this book. Learn. Care.

Maybe even voice an opinion and act.

1000 splendid suns submitted by hcf on July 31, 2014, 2:02pm what a story. we read this in book club and had a great discussion

Tear jerker submitted by emaelshaikh on August 31, 2016, 12:26pm If you enjoy sobbing

Meh submitted by EJZ on July 23, 2018, 8:46pm Readable, but not in any way a well-written book. It relies on basic literary plot devices to survive, and also on the naivete of the American reader. Half the book comes off as an education on the life of Afghani women, and it's preachy. The other half is a story about how beaten-down women will persevere and succeed, which I would find hard to believe in the environment the story was written in. I didn't care all that much for the characters, but I read til the end, which I suppose merits 2 stars.

Beautiful submitted by himaja2 on June 27, 2019, 11:05pm A really gorgeous book about the human condition and how strong the bonds we make can be. I really loved the friendship between Mariam and Laila - they unite in hope and determination despite coming from such different walks of life. Remembering this story keeps me going on tough days.

Heart breaking submitted by bedineelu on July 12, 2019, 10:28am This is a beautifully written sad story of two women. One uneducated and the other educated both facing the same circumstances in life, how despite being adversaries they come together as friends and eventually become a lifeline to each other. And how eventually one sacrifices herself for the happiness of the other.

The book leaves you thinking on so many issues at so many levels.