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A 1000 Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

Book 3 for Cramlingtons newest book club was A 1000 Splendid Suns by Hosseini. This was Hosseini's second outing the first being The Kite Runner which is now (unsurprisingly) a film.

Most of us in the group had already read The Kite Runner, including me, however none of us had got round to reading this one. We all spoke so highly of the Kite Runner that we thought it would be worth giving this one a go.

It was easily available in paperback and about average length. As with 'Runner' it is set in Afghanistan however this time focused on the lives of two women - Mariam and Laila with the uprising of the Taliban inter weaved expertly in the background. The title comes from a Persian poem called Kabul and is really worth reading. I only read it after I had read the book and found that it shed a whole new light on the book. As well as talking about the beauty of Afghanistan (which despite the devastation that is going on around them Hosseini does manage to portray) it also relates to the two main characters 'May Allah protect such beauty from the eye of man!'

I was expecting emotion by the bucket loads as I cried my heart out reading the Runner and maybe in someway this set me up for a disappointment. Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed this book and there was moments that certainly pulled on the heart strings. It just didn't pack the punch I was hoping it would.

The group as a whole loved the book and most actually preferred it to the Runner. The reason being seemed to be that it was from a womans point of view rather than a males. I was expecting Tariq to die (I told you I was expecting emotion) however nobody expected the twist as we didn't expect Rasheed to be quite so devious.

We also really loved the background to the history of Afghanistan. Most of us knew the odd bit here and there about the Country - mostly in relation to recent events and so it was nice to read something that was about something more than Taliban and Sadam Hussain. I personally had no idea that the history was so vast. Hosseini really should be commended for the way he managed to get so much of the history across without alienating the reader of distracting from the story. I also had no idea as to the beauty of the country and the part where Tariq and Laila went with her father to visit the mountain statues really made me want to go!

As mentioned last month I asked everyone to mark the book out of ten to give some sort of quick reference as to whether we enjoyed it or not. For now the label at the bottom will always have the rating in so keep an eye out. This one averaged an 8 with one person even giving it a nine! Guess that means you have to go read it then.

Oh and apparently film rights have been sold to Columbia Pictures so expect a film of this one soon

What are you thinking of the blog so far? Do you think there needs to be more info as to what the book was about? More about the author? Less of me? Please do let me know. I am also next month going to start making a note of other books that we as individuals have read during the month and recommend. Kind of a further reading list.

Next months book is Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd. Never heard of author or book so am interested to get reading. Hope you enjoy it if you read it too. If you have already read it let me know what you thought. :)

Comments

  1. I think i was the only one out of the bookclub who hadn't read The Kite Runner, so didn't have a clue what this book was about. After reading The Road i was lookig forward to reading something happy and uplifting, and the title fo the book A 1000 Splendid Suns i thought that sounds a nice happy title. But after reading a few reviews on it i thought or no here we go again more doom and gloom. But i was surprised at how much i enjoyed the book. It was written really well, it had just the right amount of emotion for me. I also enjoyed reading a bit about the history of the country, i will be reading The Kite Runner when i get a chance. The book that was chosen for are next book i haven't heard of so looking forward to starting that. Lady T i love your blogs, i would like you to write more about the bookclub if thats possible, i really enjoyed reading your first blog on how you felt getting the bookclub started. Your a very good writer yourself, it could be the start of your very own book, stranger things have happened. Catch ya next time. Xx

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