a thousand splendid suns

i have just completed another 4 days of travel sydney-perth-adelaide-sydney
with the distances involved i had planned an early arrival at the airport on monday
so to have enough time to scour the shelves of the bookshop
and not give up until a book was in hand that registered highly on the curiosity scale
i spotted this one on entry into the shop and came back to it
the author is khaled hosseini who has written one other book called the kite runner
which was one of the victims of my usual ruthless start of year book reading frenzy
that starts in the christmas-new year downtime and lasts as long as i can keep it up
the kite runner is a moving story of 2 boyhood friends from 1970's afghanistan
who are torn apart by war, class differences, ambition and good old family feuding
with this latest title the author has followed a similar theme
though this time based on 2 women and their eventual coming together as friends
again the setting is war-torn afghanistan starting in the 1970's
mariam is the young daughter of a peasant woman who has a very bleak outlook on life
for her own hardships have led her to the conclusion that women are born to suffer
like a compass needle that points north a man's accusing finger always finds a woman
she implores her daughter to always remember this
and as the story of her life unfolds her mothers outlook on life continues to haunt her daughter
it turns out the daughter is actually the result of a liaison with a rich man when her mother worked as a maid
the father is introduced as a kind and generous man who visits miriam on a weekly basis
however an unfortunate set of circumstances sees the father give his daughter away at a very early age
to a large, unkempt and foreboding kabul resident shoe-repairer 30 years her senior
the arranged marriage quickly deteriorates as mariam is forced to wear a burka
and take the subservient role expected of women in a muslim fundamentalist society
as a parallel to this we are introduced to laila who is a neighbour in kabul
living in a house with an educated father and mourning mother
who has seen her 2 sons taken off to war and subsequently killed
the father also has a saying that he passes on to his daughter about his beloved kabul
one could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs
or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls
which provides the yearning within his daughter to stay close to the city her father loved
while miriams circumstances provide us an insight to the suppressed life of a woman
laila's story is more about the effect of war on everyday people
after she loses her whole family to the war she is taken in by miriam's husband
primarily to provide him with respect amongst his peers to be seen with 2 wives
within time the relationship of mariam and laila changes from forced tolerance to firm friendship
that is centred around the raising of 2 children born into war and severe hardship
so their lives are sometimes very sad and the suffering at times seems relentless
but there are moments of pure joy and the book has a quite balanced happy-sad conclusion
one thing that i found very interesting in my week of travel and reading
was that a number of fellow women travellers and air hostesses commented to me about the book
having already read it and i did also notice it in the laps of several other women passengers
an american lady seated next to me also told me that the kite runner has already been made into a film
so it has hit a chord with women for it is a woman's story though the author is a man
it gave me a very clear and understandable insight into the suffering of women
in both the time of war and at the hands of a big dumb and dogmatic male
the book is very readable and can be consumed quite quickly
while reading it i couldn't help but think it would also make a very telling film
just as the book itself is a very satisfying read