Maybe trying to do my write-up for Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns while watching American Idol was not such a good idea. This was January's book club pick and I really don't know what to say about it. It was a typical New York Times Bestseller. Hosseini knows how to tell a gripping story and to keep the prose fairly sparse but he can't avoid a cliched ending.Aside from certain cliched turns in the storyline, I found Hosseini's second novel an interesting snapshot into the lives of Afghan women. The most shocking part were the dates at the beginning of each chapter. This mistreatment of women is happening right now, currently. I found myself appalled at the brutality the two main characters suffer at the hands of their husband and it was hard to read those particular scenes. Living in a society where husbands are not allowed to beat their wives and women enjoy social freedom, it is hard to even fathom living in one where I would be required to cover my entire body with a burka and to not be allowed to go anywhere without a male escort. If anything, Suns gives its readers a reason to be thankful for the United States being what it is, economic downturn or not. Our wallets may be hurting but at least our homes are not being torn apart by rocket attacks and our women are not being beaten into submission.
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