Thousand Splendid Suns (Japanese) details from bookadda
AFTER MORE THAN TWO YEARS ON THE BESTSELLER LISTS, KHALED HOSSEINI RETURNS WITH A BEAUTIFUL, RIVETING, AND HAUNTING NOVEL OF ENORMOUS CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE.
A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years ? from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding ? that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives ? the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness ? are inextricable from the history playing out around them.
Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heartwrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love ? a stunning accomplishment.
Editorial Reviews
Khaled Hosseini's follow-up to
The Kite Runner does not disappoint. Set like its predecessor in war-torn Afghanistan,
A Thousand Splendid Suns uses that tumultuous backdrop to render the heroic plight of two women of different generations married to the same savagely abusive male. Born out of wedlock, Mariam was forced to marry 40-year-old Rasheed when she was only 15. Then, 18 years later, her still childless husband angrily takes an even younger wife. Hosseini renders the story of Mariam and her "sister/daughter," Laila, with persuasive detail and consummate humanity. Their abject situation leaves them no emotional space for idle philosophizing; their resistance is from the very core of their being. Truly must-read fiction.
About The Author:
On Christmas Day in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, securing Kabul within two days and remaining for a nine-year war with anti-government insurgents. During the time of the initial invasion, Afghani born Khaled Hosseini was living in Paris, France, where his father worked at a diplomatic post at the Afghan Embassy. When Hosseini and his family returned to their home country in 1980, they found the landscape violently changed and found themselves in need of political asylum in the United States.
As he grew older, Hosseini feared the Afghanistan that existed prior to the Soviet war and the subsequent rise of the Taliban would be forgotten forever. Even as he reached great levels of success as a practicing internist in California two decades after last having been to Afghanistan, he never forgot his roots. So, rising at 4AM every morning before beginning his medical shift, Hosseini began writing a story that not only captured the unsullied Afghanistan of his youth but also...
Name:Khaled Hosseini
Current Home:Sunnyvale, California
Date of Birth:March 4, 1965
Place of Birth:Kabul, Afghanistan
Education:B.S. in biology, Santa Clara University, 1988; M.D., UC San Diego School of Medicine, 1993
Awards:The Kite Runner named a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, 2003
* Khaled Hosseini's official web site
Biography
On Christmas Day in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, securing Kabul within two days and remaining for a nine-year war with anti-government insurgents. During the time of the initial invasion, Afghani born Khaled Hosseini was living in Paris, France, where his father worked at a diplomatic post at the Afghan Embassy. When Hosseini and his family returned to their home country in 1980, they found the landscape violently changed and found themselves in need of political asylum in the United States.
As he grew older, Hosseini feared the Afghanistan that existed prior to the Soviet war and the subsequent rise of the Taliban would be forgotten forever. Even as he reached great levels of success as a practicing internist in California two decades after last having been to Afghanistan, he never forgot his roots. So, rising at 4AM every morning before beginning his medical shift, Hosseini began writing a story that not only captured the unsullied Afghanistan of his youth but also tracked its ensuing downfall. "I wanted to write about Afghanistan before the Soviet war because that is largely a forgotten period in modern Afghan history," he told Newsline.com. "For many people in the west, Afghanistan is synonymous with the Soviet war and the Taliban. I wanted to remind people that Afghans had managed to live in peaceful anonymity for decades, that the history of the Afghans in the 20th century has been largely pacific and harmonious."
The novel that resulted from Hosseini's early morning writing sessions was The Kite Runner, a heart-rending tale about two Afghan boys, best friends pulled apart by personal betrayal and the immense upheaval of war. Drawing raves from a long list of publications, this 2003 debut went on to become an international hit. Four years later, Hosseini delivered A Thousand Splendid Suns, an emotionally resonant crowd-pleaser focused on the plight of oppressed Afghan women before and during the rise of the Taliban.
In 2003, Hosseini revisited the place of his birth for the first time in nearly 27 years. "I returned to Afghanistan because I had a deep longing to see for myself how people lived, what they thought of their government, how optimistic they were about the future of their homeland," he said. "I was overwhelmed with the kindness of people and found that they had managed to retain their dignity, their pride, and their hospitality under unspeakably bleak conditions." In Hosseini's gripping novels, their voices rise strong and clear above the clash of violence.
Good To Know
During his years in the U.S., Hosseini has soaked in more than his share of American culture. He professes to be a fan of such U.S. institutions as the music of Bruce Springsteen and football. Still, he admits that he simply cannot appreciate baseball, saying, "I think that to fully appreciate baseball, it helps to have been born in the U.S."
When it comes to chickens, Hosseini is a chicken. "I'm terrified of chickens," the writer confesses. "Absolutely petrified. This intense and irrational fear is, I believe, caused by the memory of a black hen we owned in Kabul when I was a child. She used to peck her own chicks to death as soon as the eggs hatched."
When Hosseini isn't writing or tending to one of his patients, he enjoys games of no-limits Texas hold 'em poker with his brother and friends.
Feature Interviews
In the spring of 2004, Khaled Hosseini took some time out to talk with us about some of his favorite books, authors, and interests.
What was the book that most influenced your life or your career as a writer?
I remember reading The Grapes of Wrath in high school in 1983. My family had immigrated to the U.S. three years before, and I had spent the better part of the first two years learning English. John Steinbeck's book was the first book I read in English where I had an "Aha!" moment, namely in the famed turtle chapter. For some reason, I identified with the disenfranchised farm workers in that novel -- I suppose in one sense, they reminded me of my own country's traumatized people. And indeed, when I went back to Afghanistan in 2003, I met...