A Thousand Splendid Suns

 I feel that it's high time that I wrote about my favourite book. Be warned not to judge the book entirely based on my review because even the best of critics couldn't totally describe the amount of beauty this book holds, let alone me. This is one book that I am sure of never leaving my heart for a very long time. 'The Thousand Splendid Suns' by Khaled Hosseini.

The name of the book might be unfamiliar to some but the author is less likely to not be of your knowledge. He was hailed all around the world for his first novel 'The Kite Runner' which had brought about some controversy at its time of release. Several countries had denounced the book at the time considering it to contain sensitive content that was not fit for the audience that it was written for. But don't worry, all disputes have been settled, the book is now publicly available and might also have been read by many of you. Owing to the mentioned reasons, the Kite Runner is the most popular among Hosseini's works but trust me when I say that A Thousand Splendid Suns is way more better. Not that the Kite Runner is any bad, the latter is just way too good.

I started reading the book with the highest expectations, which is a bad omen in the first place because that usually leaves me utterly disliking a book unless it has some very unique element to it. The best way (for me) to read a book is to not even have heard of it before, take what it has to offer and leave with at least a little contend. Well into the first chapters I was starting to pick the pace and feel a bond when suddenly, at the 5th chapter, I started to question my life choices. I was so furious at the author that I even thought about giving up the book. I left it there till the next day and when it became impossible for me to handle the anxiety anymore, I resumed from where I left off. I prepared myself for a roller coaster and therefore, it was impossible for me to get disappointed.

This was no ordinary roller coaster but perhaps the biggest and most dangerous one that I have ever been on. At some point it literally started to ache from the depth of my chest and it might have been by God's grace that I did not die of a heartbreak. I cried myself to sleep the day it ended. Not the kind of crying you do when you are sad but rather a pure blend of sorrow, happiness and contend. My heart felt so full and empty at the same time. I could talk for hours on end of that feeling and still not be done. To this day, a warmth overcomes me when I think of the book.

This book resonates true love. The real unstained love between two women. At first I had doubts on whether it was a lesbian love story because I saw several people talking about how divine the romance that Laila and Mariam shared was.  But now I know what they were talking about and after you read it, you too shall know. This love, this very heart wrenching love is the signature of Khaled Hosseini. It is what makes him a great writer and to think that we shall be seeing no more of this man's works pains me. He wrote for his country and the people in it and he wrote it with all of his heart. He touches every last neuron in your body and leaves us with a feeling of resentment towards the author himself for having brought so much pain upon us.

'The Thousand Splendid Suns' is not just a sentimental book. It is a lot more than that and a lot more than any book I ever read has been. It leaves our hearts with a feeling of fulfilment. The last line in particular- "But the game involves only male names because, if it's a girl, Laila has already named her". With that single line, all the wounds cut in my heart were sewn.

- Fathima Naushad