Sadia Reza's Reviews > A Thousand Splendid Suns

** spoiler alert ** Funnily enough, I had numerous complaints about The Kite Runner when I first read it. But I decided to give A Thousand Splendid Suns a try anyway. So as a previous Hosseini critic who jumped into Splendid Suns rife with doubt, I must say I didn't expect to be giving 5 stars. However, I still did have problems with some of the very stinted writing that explained the historical or background situations, which literally reminded me many times of an encyclopedia or a news article - or Wikipedia, as another reviewer wrote.

Otherwise, in this novel, it didn't seem as if all the events, the characters and emotions were intentionally set up for the sake of sensationalizing, as it did in The Kite Runner. It feels much more ingrained into the novel itself rather than for the sake of the audience. He also has much more well-rounded characters. Rasheed personified the sheer evil of an abusive husband, but in the beginning of his marriage with Mariam, he shows signs of being a genuinely caring husband, to the extent that when he gives Mariam the scarf and looks away shyly, she thinks how it's the first real gift she has ever received. And his love for Zalmai is the one thing that redeems his despicable character. Laila, too, is not a wholly idealistic character, but one with flaws - her premarital relations with Tariq, her child out of wedlock - falls far from perfect and is much more realistic.

Another aspect in which this deviates from TKR is how Mariam actually ultimately triumphs her tormentor. In TKR Amir was despicable in his cowardice until the end - not even an urge to beat the crap out of his friend's tormentor when he has the chance.

One of the things that I have to admit I find really heartbreaking about Hosseini's writing is his capture of the inevitable, ephemeral nature of time and unrequited bonds, unsaid regrets and farewells that remain etched only in the pages of buried, unread letters, or are scattered forever into the winds where they evanesce into nothingness.