My
overall reaction to this book is that it was a powerful message about
friendship and family. Throughout the book the relationship between Mariam and
Laila becomes better and better. At the hospital, when Laila is delivering her second child, shows one instance of how they have
become a family.
“Laila let out a cry and rolled on her side.
Her fingers closed against Mariam’s.
“Any problems with the first
delivery?”
“No”
“You’re the mother?”
“Yes,”
Mariam said.”
In this instance in the book Mariam
is telling the nurse that she is the mother so she would be allowed into the
delivery room. But it made me think more about the nature of Laila and Mariam’s
relationship. Mariam has really acted as a mother towards Laila, helping her
with the children, teaching her how to cook and clean. And being a loving support
system to Laila when times get tough. The second time in this book that I though
displayed this aspect of family is after Mariam killed Rasheed. She had to
leave and turn herself into the police for killing her husband and she had to
say goodbye to Laila.
“Later
that morning, Mariam packed Zalmai a small lunch of bread and dried figs. For
Aziza too she packed some figs, and a few cookies shaped like animals. She put
it all in a paper bag and gave it to Laila.”
“Kiss
Aziza for me,” she said. “Tell her that she is the noor of my eyes and the
sultan of my heart. Will you do that for me?”
In making this comment Mariam shows
that she is not only close to Laila but sees Laila’s children as her own. I believe
the way she treats Laila’s children is more the way a grandmother treats her
grandchildren. The last part in this book that I believe shows how close this
family is the name game scene. After Mariam was stoned to death and Tariq,
Laila marry and move the children back to a rebuilding Kabul, Laila becomes pregnant
with another child.
“As
she walks to her desk at the front of the class, Laila thinks of the naming
game they’d played again over dinner the night before. It has become a nightly ritual
ever since Laila gave Tariq and the children the news. Back and forth they go,
making a case for their own choice…But the game involves only male names.
Because, if it’s a girl, Laila has already named her.”
This quote shows that Laila plans
on naming her child Mariam if it is a girl because she hopes that Mariam’s
legacy can live on, even though Mariam has died.
The intended audience of this book
are people who have experienced tragedy, war, friendship, or the love of
family. These are all things that the book has and readers can relate to when
reading. The ending is a bitter-sweet one. Being a fan of happy endings I enjoyed
the ending of this book. It is sad that Mariam died because of the crime of self-defense,
but it is also a happy ending because of the life that Laila lived. Laila
married her childhood love, Tariq, then moved out of Kabul. As Kabul began to rebuild
and become safer, the family returned. Laila then began teaching children at
the orphanage that had once housed Aziza. And at the end the author shows that
Laila is pregnant and hopes to continue Mariam’s legacy in her inborn child.
Personally
I really enjoyed the book A Thousand Splendid
Suns. I thought that the book was well written and drew me in as a reader.
It was dramatic and made reading each chapter not mandatory, but necessary.
When reading I became attached to the lives of these two women and really hoped
that they could get out of an abusive marriage in a war tor country. But I also
rooted for their friendship, and the family that they made. When Mariam gave up
her life so that Laila, Tariq, and the children wouldn’t have to live a life on
the run, I saw the strength of the friendship that Hosseini was trying to portray.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading dramatic books. This
books seems like it is about war and Afghanistan, but is really about family,
and the power of friendship.
