Book in Review

Our book club just completed a very

moving novel that I'd like to share with you.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

by

Khaled Hosseini

The novel focuses on the lives of two remarkable Afghan women through a span of thirty years, roughly the 1960's - 2003.   From the Soviet invasion to the rule of the Taliban and the post war rebuilding Hosseini is able to bring fear, violence, desperation and hope to life within the pages of his novel. To me it is Hosseini's incredible storytelling ability that propels this heartbreaking story of 

Miriam and Laila.

 In more than one way, it is a love story. 

A love between a man and a woman, family love, parental love, the love that exists within a friendship, love of your country, and love of God.  The characters seek love and in certain ways are truly saved by love.  Both women are flawed and hurting in different ways, yet are drawn together by a common misery.  The story's of Miriam and Laila, their journeys and lives in Kabul became very real to me! 

As real as any story a close friend would share in secret.

 

Their story was so gripping, which makes it hard to pace yourself girls.  

At the heart, it is an amazing story of human life,

human loss, and human love.

And Hope.

I thought I would share a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

 

"Behind every trial and sorrow that He makes us shoulder,

God has a reason."

"Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting."

And my favorite-favorite...
"In a few years, this little girl will be a woman who will make small demands on life, who will never burden others, who will never let on that she too had sorrows, disappointments, dreams that have been ridiculed.

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."