Book Group. 8 September 2008
Khaled Hosseini A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)
My comments
1. Despite the timescale, nothing – certainly no-one – really changed. The characters didn’t develop – they just grew increasingly stoic as life grew harder.
2. The wars in Afghanistan were only backdrops. Tariq was the only major character who was involved directly in them. Two of Leila’s brothers died, but we had never met them anyway. Even the Taliban’s destruction of the giant Buddhas didn’t really change anyone (or anything).
3. It’s ‘moral’ is survival-as-victory, which may be OK for Oprah Winfrey’s book club (the back cover features an excerpt from their enthusiastic review), but it can lead to political quietism. What did Tariq do when he went away to fight and why was it so peripheral to the book’s main action?
4. It’s suspect to have a man write about what women feel – especially about wearing the burka, even though he’s from Afghanistan. He made the comment that it gives the wearer anonymity, which has also been said (earlier) by some Islamic feminists.
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