by Bhavya Dabas

Created on: October 20, 2009

This is Khaled Hosseini's second novel, after The Kite Runner. Never before have I been so enthralled, so glued to a book.

Khaled Hosseini has done a brilliant job at describing the terror inflicted upon the people of Afghanistan by the Mujahideen, the Taliban, and later, briefly, the American army. He has done an equally great job at describing the emotional turmoil the people went through in that time, the shattered hopes, the lost love, the separation from loved ones, the complete agony of it all.

The story revolves around two women, Mariam and Laila, who, by a twist of fate, end up being married to the same man, even though Mariam is old enough to have been Laila's mother, by the standards of the time. Both women have experienced the loss of loved ones. Initially, they are rather hostile to each other, but eventually, a strong bond forms between them, out of their shared abhorrence for their husband, and the fact that both have seen so much anguish in their lives, and don't have much to be happy about in life, other than each other's company, and, later, Laila's daughter Aziza, who brings into their lives the love, the joy, the fulfillment they lacked. The two rebuild their lives around each other and Aziza, and rediscover happiness.

The powerful narrative makes the reader feel the tragedy, the hopelessness, the ecstasy, with the characters. It gives the reader a glimpse into what life in times of war is like. I actually wept through some of the more agonizing parts. And I was quite shaken up during some of the more gruesome parts.

The Taliban forbade women from getting an education, from taking up jobs, even from going out on the street without a burqa and a male relative to escort them. They forbade people from writing books, from painting, from watching films. It makes one think how lucky one is, to be living in a time and place where one has the freedom of creative expression, where the women have the same educational opportunities as the men and an opportunity to work in the same workplace as them, and to be treated in the same way. Makes you feel thankful that we are not living in a time and place where one constantly lives in fear of death, of impending doom. That we do not have to flee from our own homes in order to live.

Learn more about this author, Bhavya Dabas.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.