A Thousand Splendid Suns

By Khaled Hosseini
(Riverhead Hardcover, Hardcover, 9781594489501, 384pp.)

Publication Date: June 2007

Other Editions of This Title: eBook, Hardcover (October 2009), Paperback (November 2008), Hardcover (November 2008), Paperback (March 2008), Paperback (November 2007), Paperback (September 2007), Large Print (July 2007), Paperback (June 2007), Compact Disc - Abridged (May 22, 2007), Compact Disc (May 22, 2007)

Categories: General

Selected by Indie Booksellers for the Spring/Summer '09 Reading Group List

“A Thousand Splendid Suns, from the author of The Kite Runner, is a revealing story of the plight of two Afghan women, brought together by loss and war, both of whom you will come to love.”

-- Beth Carpenter, The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, NC

Description

This deluxe illustrated edition of A Thousand Splendid Suns is filled with striking and memorable photographs that bring Khaled Hosseini's compelling story to life. Since its publication in 2007, A Thousand Splendid Suns has shipped more than three million copies. The bestselling adult novel of 2007, it spent fifteen weeks at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and remained on the list for an impressive forty-nine weeks. Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.

Now, in this lavishly designed edition of the novel, the narrative is enhanced by expressive photos that capture the people and culture of the region in vivid detail and reflect the book's powerful themes, so apt for our times: the passionate search for family, home, acceptance, a healthy society, and a promising future-regardless of the obstacles. Together with The Kite Runner: Illustrated Edition, the illustrated A Thousand Splendid Suns creates a beautiful matched set.

About the Author

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and moved to the United States in 1980. The Kite Runner, his first novel, is an international bestseller, published in forty countries. His second novel, the numberone national bestseller A Thousand Splendid Suns, was published in 2007. In 2006 he was named a U.S. goodwill envoy to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Conversation Starters from ReadingGroupChoices.com

1. The phrase "a thousand splendid suns," from the poem by Saib-e-Tabrizi, is quoted twice in the novel – once as Laila's family prepares to leave Kabul, and again when she decides to return there from Pakistan. It is also echoed in one of the final lines: "Miriam is in Laila's own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns." Discuss the thematic significance of this phrase.

2. Mariam's mother tells her: "Women like us. We endure. It's all we have." Discuss how this sentiment informs Mariam's life and how it relates to the larger themes of the novel.

3. By the time Laila is rescued from the rubble of her home by Rasheed and Mariam, Mariam's marriage has become a miserable existence of neglect and abuse. Yet when she realizes that Rasheed intends to marry Laila, she reacts with outrage. Given that Laila's presence actually tempers Rasheed's abuse, why is Mariam so hostile toward her?

4. Laila's friendship with Mariam begins when she defends Mariam from a beating by Rasheed. Why does Laila take this action, despite the contempt Mariam has consistently shown her?

5. Growing up, Laila feels that her mother's love is reserved for her two brothers. "People," she decides, "shouldn't be allowed to have new children if they'd already given away all their love to their old ones." How does this sentiment inform Laila's reaction to becoming pregnant with Rasheed's child? What lessons from her childhood does Laila apply in raising her own children?

6. At several points in the story, Mariam and Laila pass themselves off as mother and daughter. What is the symbolic importance of this subterfuge? In what ways is Mariam's and Laila's relationship with each other informed by their relationships with their own mothers?

7. One of the Taliban judges at Mariam's trial tells her, "God has made us different, you women and us men. Our brains are different. You are not able to think like we can. Western doctors and their science have proven this." What is the irony in this statement? How is irony employed throughout the novel?

8. Laila's father tells her, "You're a very, very bright girl. Truly you are. You can be anything that you want." Discuss Laila's relationship with her father. What aspects of his character does she inherit? In what ways is she different?

9. Mariam refuses to see visitors while she is imprisoned, and she calls no witnesses at her trial. Why does she make these decisions?

10. The driver who takes Babi, Laila, and Tariq to the giant stone Buddhas above the Bamiyan Valley describes the crumbling fortress of Shahr-e-Zohak as "the story of our country, one invader after another… we're like those walls up there. Battered, and nothing pretty to look at, but still standing." Discuss the metaphorical import of this passage as it relates to Miriam and Laila. In what ways does their story reflect the larger story of Afghanistan's troubled history?

11. Among other things, the Taliban forbid "writing books, watching films, and painting pictures." Yet despite this edict, the film Titanic becomes a sensation on the black market. Why would people risk the Taliban's violent reprisals for a taste of popcorn entertainment? What do the Taliban's restrictions on such material say about the power of artistic expression and the threat it poses to repressive political regimes?

12. While the first three parts of the novel are written in the past tense, the final part is written in present tense. What do you think was the author's intent in making this shift? How does it change the effect of this final section?

	The Privileges Jonathan Dee Random House
	The Unnamed Joshua Ferris Reagan Arthur Books
	Committed Elizabeth Gilbert Viking Adult
	The Crossing Places Elly Griffiths Houghton Mifflin Harcourt