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This thread is devoted to the Book Club's discussion on "Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hoisseini. It will be open for discussion on or about February 1.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I think this will be great fun.
In anticipation of wanting to contribute to the discussion, I've done a little research this afternoon. There is an interesting website Khaled Hosseini has established, and on it, he discusses his works. Seems he is much like the little boy, writing and performing as a child, in The Kite Runner.
Hosseini discusses the difficulty in taking on the persona of the two women in A Thousand Splendid Suns, and how he found his 'voice' for the work, which struck me as authentic.
YouTube has a video of Hosseini discussing this second novel, as well as a trailer for the film of the first one.
Wikipedia also has a good general history of Afghanistan which helped me with the time period of A Thousand Splendid Suns. I was in HS in the early 1970s, college from 73 - 77, and I recalled headlines but little else.
This should be a lot of fun. I finished Water for Elephants, and am currently reading Brokaw's Boom!, which I am really enjoying -- sort of like re-living my youth. What a great idea, on the road had -- no?
I had read that, also, RDSLOTS, about Hosseini finding his "voice" for the women characters.
What I thought was so intriguing about that was that he went to his wife for advice and feedback as he traveled through his writing of his novel. It is ironic that a man born into that culture shows that love, respect and trust can still exist between men and women through his own reliance on his wife.
What a contrast to the radical personages of some of the male characters and the male superiority that pervades life in Afghanistan. Interesting contrast.
Speaking strictly for myself, as a reader, I often have several reactions to a book.
There is the initial one, and I was moved by the stories of Mariam and Laila, and laughed and cried and cheered and mourned as I read Hosseini's work. I was thrilled that life ultimately turns out the way it does for Laila, sorry that Mariam never knows how she became more than the worthless 'hamshira.'
A second reaction to a work, for me has to do with the actual storytelling and the art of the story teller. I love the many contrasts in the work, and the many levels of those contrasts -- even down to the symbolism in the characters' names.
For me, a third, and subsequent reaction to a work is on-going and/or timeless in that I will think of a title in so many other contexts -- something someone says, something that happens in the world, whether it's my own little world or the universe-at-large, while I am reading yet another title. Hosseini's first work has stayed with me these past several years as I am sure this one will.
Hoisseini is educated as a physician, but is gifted as a storyteller..He takes what is closest to his heart and weaves a totally mesmerizing story based on the facts.The story of.Miriam and Laila,I am sure can be related to many Afghan women..
Hoisseini is educated as a physician, but is gifted as a storyteller..He takes what is closest to his heart and weaves a totally mesmerizing story based on the facts.The story of.Miriam and Laila,I am sure can be related to many Afghan women..
Sadly enough, true. I agree completely this is not just these two women's stories, blue, but a composite of many women's. Hosseini, in what I've gone on to read about him and his writing, claims his characters' stories are comprised of the many stories of women he saw and/or talked with on a trip back to Afghanistan in 2003.
I also can't help but wonder about women in our own country who have difficult lives, and like Mariam, especially, are subjected to such spousal abuse.
On his website, Hosseini makes some interesting comments about being flattered to have been a doctor, but that his first love had always been writing -- he is the little boy storyteller in The Kite Runner. I found that interesting, too.
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Really looking forward to it!
I found those sites interesting also, RDSLOTS.
A very interesting young man.
