Quick Review of a Thousand Splendid Suns
This Book Shows You the Picture of Afghanistan, the Pre and Post Us and Soviet Invasions
This masterpiece is written by Khalid Hosseini, it is the second of his 3 most famous books. The other two are ‘The Kite Runner’ and ‘And The Mountains Echoed’. I have read all three of them. I am not an avid reader and neither I am among those who take interest in current affairs or political situations in Afghanistan (unfortunately though). It is actually Khalid Hosseini, the reason for me to read the books. He uses simple language, deep yet engaging details, and some magic that I couldn't explain or understand, that while reading one starts feeling him inside the story and start feeling that he is watching a movie and not reading a book.
Overview of the book
The book revolves around two main characters, Marium and Laila. They both were one generation apart, had different childhood but became wives of the same husband, who was abusive.
The story of Marium was interesting all the way from the first page of the book till the last.
Marium, was an illegitimate daughter, hence her father did not keep her and her mother in his house, they lived in a secluded hut.
His father used to come for visit. Once, she goes to see her father even when her mother denied her to leave. But she was not only welcomed by her father, later then, when she comes back she finds that her mother has hanged herself from the tree.
At the age of fifteen, she was married to a widowed shoemaker from another city, thirty years older than her. Soon, the marriage turned out to be an abusive one since she didn't give birth to a son.
The book also shares the story of another girl, Laila. Laila is one generation younger than Marium. She had a good childhood with her parents, but due to a bomb blast just before when they were leaving Kabul for Pakistan, she lost her parents. Marium’s husband took care of Laila and got married as well.
I would say I did lose interest in the middle of the book when he was describing the childhood of Laila. But then he connects it well later in the book. He shares the story of romance, sex (yes, between Laila and her lover in teenage) as well as the miseries and sufferings of the people living in the volatile cities of Afghanistan.
In one incident to save Laila, Marium hits their husband, Rasheed with a shovel which killed him. She accepts in front of Talibs court that she did hit her husband and he died. She was given a death sentence and was publically executed on the football ground (where Talibs usually give public punishments during football matches).
Most indulging moment of the book
The deepest moment for me was when Laila came back to Afghanistan to serve her country. Marium was executed by that time. Laila visited Marium’s hut, which was abandoned. She saw the place where Marium had spent her childhood with her mother Nana, she sat there and closed her eyes, she started seeing where she played, ate, slept, and waited for her father, who couldn't keep his wife and daughter with him, to visit her.
Criticism on ATSS and Khalid Hosseini
Claim: Khalid is an American agent
We can give this claim a thought.
He has taken a stance that what the US did was all understandable, he mentioned US efforts to help the people of Afghanistan, and apparently, the US did a lot for the welfare of the people.
Secondly, in his book The Kite Runner, he has shared a story where a Soviet soldier stops a bus of refugees traveling to Pakistan leaving Afghanistan, the soldier asks to spend some time with the woman. He was eventually stopped by his senior officer. Well, I believe that when an army takes over a place human rights violations are very likely. But one can overthink that he chose a Soviet soldier, not an American.
Also, I will be most inclined to favor this claim because I read myself how many times he mentioned the negative role played by Pakistan. Like at one place he mentioned that the Taliban have links with Pakistanis and that the senior leadership was heard speaking Urdu.
But, this will not be justified if we do not consider where he mentioned the positive role of Pakistan. He did mention that many Afghans turned towards Pakistan and seek shelter in Pakistan’s refugee camps (although he explained that life is pathetic, I guess not very much better than death, since Pakistan’s economic condition is not doing well as well).
But coming back to the point where he mentioned the link between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, I guess this is the major argument used as a purpose of propaganda by western media and our eastern neighbor India, that Pakistan has ties with Afghanistan's Talibs. Well, if one takes a deep breath and thinks again, this cannot only be true but also has strategic reasons behind it. Afghanistan is not only our immediate neighbor with which we share borders of two provinces but there is no fencing or boundaries between these two countries (I guess it was in 2021 that they built boundaries on their borders). So, if anything happens in Afghanistan, an increase in terrorism, Islamization, or regarding women's rights, or the peace instability in Afghanistan, will directly impact Pakistan. And Pakistan did go through a lot of terror attacks, suicide bombings in the past because of the Afghan side. Pakistan claims that it is second to Afghanistan and faced the consequences of war there. Hence it was crucial that Pakistan keeps a check on its neighbor where there is a war going on especially when the major superpowers were involved in the region.
Claim # 2: The book became famous because it had two female protagonists
Well, that is true, the book revolved around two female characters mainly. They were dealing with the worst form of patriarchy in the world. So maybe this book got sympathy votes and became a hit. Well, that cannot be entirely false. It may have impacted its success but there shouldn't be an issue with that. In his earlier book The Kite Runner, some people complained that Khalid talked about the story of kids in Afghanistan, he missed mentioning the miseries of females, and so he wrote with two female protagonists. Which is what exactly the world is thirsty to read about, female miseries. However, the way he has written the story, how he depicted the real-life scenarios in Afghanistan, the life of common people, how the behavior changed post-Talib takeover, is so mind-blowing that there is no need to think about why he chose two female protagonists.
Politics Explained in the book
The situation in Afghanistan is actually very complicated, one cannot speak for or against any country. Many countries are involved or were involved in Afghanistan politics where prominent ones are the USA, the Soviet Union currently Russia, Saudi Arabia (for producing Mujahideens to oust Soviets and the even USA supported Mujahideen before they invaded Afghanistan and fought with somewhat similar Taliban who wanted hardline Islam), Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, India, and China. The Soviet Union and the USA were two superpowers and were in a cold war with each other. The neighboring countries like Pakistan were involved in facilitating refugees or minimizing refugees migration since Pakistan is itself a developing country and cant handle any refugee burden well. And neighboring countries were involved to prevent wars from entering their own country. And lastly, several other countries were involved if they were in favor or against the countries involved.
On top of all that, the culture and ethnicities across the provinces of Afghanistan were not uniform. They were divided into ethnic or religious identities like Sunni and Shia Muslims. They hated each other so much that others could use their hatred to trigger them to fight with each other and kill each other. This is what exactly happened, many countries exploited this vulnerability and Afghanistan is suffering to this day. Apparently and thankfully I guess, the current leadership seems to be acknowledging this weakness, and looks that they are trying to work on this.
In the book, he tried to explain very briefly how there were many regional groups who were fighting with each other. I can't recall them all and the reasons they were fighting with each other.
But one thing is clear that it is the people of Afghanistan who suffered the most. The west wanted to fight for the education and basic rights of people, especially women, but invading the country didn't prove to be wise after over 20 years.
Much thanks to President Joe Biden that he has finally ended the war and withdrew the troops. He might not be liked by his fellow countrymen, since he might be seen as apathetic to those who lost lives in 9/11 and their loved ones, but he might well deserve praise for saving so many lives and breaking the cycle of preparing soldiers in the US and mujahids/Talibs in Afghanistan and giving life to many youths.
Conclusion of A Thousand Splendid Suns
I would urge everyone, especially new readers to give this book a read.
It is a marvelous book telling the story of common lives in Afghanistan. How Kabul used to be a modern city, how it was rich in poets and artists, how its streets were lively, and then how it saw the gloomy days. It showed what happens when a country collapse. Laila had to give birth via a Cesarean section without anesthesia, yes, she was cut without anesthesia. And how well-qualified professors had become beggars. How life turned 180 degrees for many like Laila. How death seemed not so daunting after being lived a painful life since childhood like that of Marium.
His book ends when Laila moves back to Afghanistan to serve her country with whatever she can. But I feel proud to say that war is officially over that Joe Biden has withdrawn the forces even though abruptly but nothing could be much better than this. One can give advice or influence another country to improve its processes or practices but it is in no way wise to make use of armed force directly or indirectly to impose your concerns.
