A Thousand Splendid Suns is based mainly in Kabul, Afghanistan and time framed between 1973 and 2003. Within this three decades span, Afghanistan was transformed from a monarchy into a republic, occupied by the U.S.S.R., and controlled by the Taliban, therefore the book centers heavily within the later years of Soviet occupation and its disbandment. 

            The author, Khaled Hosseini, was born in Afghanistan, and currently lives in the US. He and his family left Afghanistan in the 1980s, after the government allied with the Soviets, and they moved to the United States of America, where they received asylum. Over twenty-five years passed before Hosseini returned to the land of his birth. The story he presents is thus personal as he has lived through the fear of what an unwanted government could do to a nation, and understands the psychological torment of the Afghan people.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a fictional story about the lives of two Afghan women, Mariam and Laila. Hosseini uses the experiences of these two women to take a critical look at Afghan society and politics during Soviet occupation and post-Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. 

The book is divided into four sections; the first section is dedicated to Mariam, the second to Laila, the third is a combination of both their lives, and the fourth section focuses on Laila once more. 

Mariam’s story is based in the seventies. She is the daughter of an influent and respected businessman, Jalil; however, since her mother, Nana, was simply Jalil’s servant, Mariam is considered a harami, or bastard child, and is forced to live on the outskirts of her village with her mother, far away from her father and his life. In this section of the book, Hosseini attempts to deal with more domestic issues, such as class and regional wars dividing Afghan society, particularly how they directly affect Afghan women and the unspoken, but well understood, rules that plague disadvantaged people.

When Mariam turns fifteen, she decides to take matters into her own hands and go to her father’s house uninvited. When she is not allowed to see him, she insists on waiting for him outside and falls asleep, until she is woken up by Jalil’s chauffer the next morning and physically forced into his car. All during the ride, as she bounced in the backseat, she cried. They were tears of grief, of anger, of disillusionment, but mainly tears of deep, deep shame at how foolishly she had given herself to Jalil. She realizes her father is bound to other commitments, his three other wives, and understands she is less important.

            Mariam is then married off and sent to Kabul. The man she marries, Rasheed, three times her age, is certainly not prince charming on a white horse, Mariam smelled him before she saw him. Cigarette smoke and thick, sweet cologne… The scent flooded Mariam’s nostrils. Through the veil, from the corner of her eye, Mariam saw a tall man, thick-bellied and broad shouldered, stooping in the doorway. The size of him almost made her gasp. She voluntarily married this man, but only at the will of her father could she sacrifice love.

The role of wife does not suit Mariam. She is used for keeping the house in right order, and for sex and when it appears she is not able to have any children, Rasheed becomes violent, His powerful hands clasped her jaw. He shoved two fingers into her mouth and pried it open, then forced the cold, hard pebbles into it… Through the mouthful of grit and pebbles, Mariam mumbled a plea. Tears were leaking out of the corner of her eyes. This is the first scene in the book where Hosseini depicts torture.

At this point, Mariam’s story stops and Laila’s begins. It is an abrupt transition, however, two things happen while reading; one is Mariam’s well being, and the second is the total engrossment of Laila’s life. 

Laila’s story begins in the late eighties, with the momentary departure of her best friend, Tariq. The significance of introducing Tariq early on is but a precursor of the relationship that will later develop. Hosseini reintroduces the audience to Laila’s parents, Hakim and Fariba.  Hakim is a university professor, Fariba is a housewife, and they also have two sons, Ahmad and Noor, who are older than Laila, but are never introduced, except for Fariba’s mention, when she talks proudly about the Afghan struggle and how her sons are involved in the resistance against the oppressors, the Soviets. 

Laila’s life is representative of several aspects within Afghan society and politics. She is carefree, mainly because her father is a liberal educator with significant opened-mindedness on women’s rights, while she is domesticated and reminded of where she came from through her mother’s personal struggle to deal with the departure of her sons and all the stories she tells of them.

Laila and Tariq’s story develops from a childhood friendship into a passionate teenage love affair, He slid closer to her, and their hands brushed, once, then again. When Tariq’s fingers tentatively began to slip into hers, Laila let them. And when suddenly he leaned over and pressed his lips to hers, she let him again. Laila walks through life as if she did not have any limitations, not even in love, and perhaps this is a message for how Afghan women should feel and think.

In the following sections, the two main characters are introduced to one another and their lives are forever changed by the social and political circumstances in their country. They both come from different families and upbringing, but both will experience the same hardships most women confront with during war and corruption. The beginning of this novel, through Mariam’s life, exposes the social inequality, class struggles and norms within Afghan society. The second part of the novel, through Laila’s life, shows a liberal Afghanistan; where women are not all the same, where women are free and allowed to express themselves in whatever way they choose, be it through fashion or education. A glimpse of western culture and its influences is represented in this section. 

A Thousand Splendid Suns, through the pain and triumphs of two women, does more than offer an insight into the struggle women are facing and the effects of war: it describes an Afghanistan rarely seen in the media today.  It is not just a country where tribal warfare runs rampant. It is a place where several forms of freedom reigned and touched the minds of many.  It is a place that has undergone several political movements and was not always dictated by a Taliban or Taliban-like group. It breaks down the negative images shown to the world and describes the resilience of the Afghan people to any, be it foreign or domestic, adversary.

Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007.