A Thousand Splendid Suns

By: Khaled Hosseini

I finished this novel (by the same author as The Kite Runner) in about a day and a half at the beach, which means it will have the lingering scent of sun screen on it for years to come.  I was so engrossed in the book and the lives of the characters that I had a difficult time putting it down, except for a quick dip in the pool to cool off.  Hosseini weaves a tragic and captivating tale of several women on the backdrop of several decades of history in Afghanistan.  The history of this country and how that history ravaged the lives of its citizens is a subject for the most part my American education made me entirely ignorant of.  Though fiction, this book will likely change the way in which you read and hear news reports from Afghanistan.  While the majority of the book is heart-wrenching, there is a small thread of hope tied to the redemptive power of love.  This small thread, set against senseless violence and great loss, gives a stunning and surprising beauty to the story.