Hosseini has unveiled a world so overlooked in our modern age. Walking past a woman in a burqa, for me was once a glimpse of two anonymous eyes. Now I see a life and wonder many things of it. I’ve been transported to a world where a woman’s fate is determined by men, where love translates between more than just a man and a women. But a father and a daughter, a friend and a friend. Where hope can be as soluble as salt in bathwater, and as relentless as a baby putting their mother in labour. Khaled Hosseini has created something masterful.
Synopsis
Mariam at the age of fifteen is sent off to marry Rasheed, a man of forty-five. Uneducated, burqa-clad and abused, Mariam is a bird waned in spirit and with no means of freeing herself from her cage of brutal misogyny. Living in Kabul during its time of female autonomy, reformation and liberalism, seems only to exist for everyone but Mariam.
The book is compellingly paced as it fast forwards through time and we meet Laila. Laila born to a liberal household, of a scholarly father and seasonally depressed mother, is a bright girl who goes to school, has a crush on a boy and is urged to have aspirations. After the war against the soviets is won, the Mujahideen becomes politically fragmented resulting in bombings and shootings that leave the streets sprawled with scattered limbs and rubble of destroyed homes. Such becomes the fate of Laila’s home and her parents. It’s when this happens, that Laila and Mariam’s paths cross.
Thoughts
This book is everything and nothing I imagined. The simple yet evocative language leaves you no choice but to immerse yourself in the painful female perspective Afghanistan’s riches and perils. Your heart will break when reading this novel. Your heart will expand. Your heart will open. And your respect for Afghan women will become insurmountable.
Discussion Questions
- Did you expect the narrative to unfold the way it did?
- Do you think Mariam should have tried to take more agency?
- How has this book changed (if it did change) your perspective on Afghan culture and the Middle East?
- Which moments in the book impacted you the most?
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