
This month, the Bookmarks read A Thousand
Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.
The following is a review from Publishers Weekly:
“Afghan-American novelist Hosseini follows up his bestselling The Kite
Runner with another searing epic of Afghanistan in turmoil. The story covers
three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny through the
lives of two women. Mariam is the scorned illegitimate daughter of a wealthy
businessman, forced at age 15 into marrying the 40-year-old Rasheed, who grows
increasingly brutal as she fails to produce a child. Eighteen later, Rasheed
takes another wife, 14-year-old Laila, a smart and spirited girl whose only
other options, after her parents are killed by rocket fire, are prostitution or
starvation. Against a backdrop of unending war, Mariam and Laila become allies
in an asymmetrical battle with Rasheed, whose violent misogyny—"There was no
cursing, no screaming, no pleading, no surprised yelps, only the systematic
business of beating and being beaten"—is endorsed by custom and law. Hosseini
gives a forceful but nuanced portrait of a patriarchal despotism where women are
agonizingly dependent on fathers, husbands and especially sons, the bearing of
male children being their sole path to social status. His tale is a powerful,
harrowing depiction of Afghanistan, but also a lyrical evocation of the lives
and enduring hopes of its resilient characters.” (May)
The Book Club meets on the 4th Tuesday of the
month at 7:30 p.m. in the library meeting room.
Everyone is welcome to attend.
Copies of the 2008 reading list are available at the Circulation Desk.