Author: Khaled Hosseini

Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns -Audio Book

Author: Khaled Hosseini - Narrator: Atossa Leoni

Publication: 2007

Number of Pages: book 384, 11 discs (12 hours)

Genre: Literary Fiction/Best Seller

Geographical Setting: Kabul, Afghanistan

Time Period: 1960’s-2003

Series: N/A

Plot Summary: A Thousand Splendid Suns tells the heartbreaking stories about two young women, Mariam and Laila, growing up in Kabul, Afghanistan between the years 1974-2003.

The women are born a generation apart, and they both come from two different social classes. Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy man, and Laila grows up in a well-educated family. Despite of their 20 year age difference, against a back-drop of war and hostility, they both struggle and survive the horrific turmoil of their country, and coincidently their lives intertwine after they are forced to marry an overbearing man thrice their age. This audio book consists of 11 discs, each one an hour long. The narration is in English, done in first person and the narrator’s voice is a pleasant female voice with original Afghan accent.

Subject Heading: Kabul, Afghanistan, Middle East, Islam, Muslims, Afghan culture, misogyny, Afghani suffering/strength, Soviet invasion-1978, the Taliban, social classes, family relationships, illegitimate daughters, miscarriages, poverty, coming-of-age stories, girls, young love, women, women’s lives, victimized women, arranged/forced marriages, self-sacrifice, love, intergenerational friendship, intergenerational, death, relationships, motherhood, betrayal, political turmoil, war, abuse, torture, survival
Appeal: striking second novel, searing epic, audio cd/audio book, unabridged, organized in four parts, women’s lives, one narrator, compassionate narration, compassionate storytelling, some foreign words used/Farsi, intense women’s point of view, descriptive, plot-centered, tone of book is sad, thought provoking emotional/powerful, violent beating, cruelty, torture, brutal, graphic, various characters, ambitious and spiritless characters, autobiographical, Afghan culture, historical details/chronicle, hopeful, heartbreaking, struggle/suffering, bittersweet, emotional triumph, unforgettable, best-seller
Similar Authors and Works (Fiction): Charlesworth, Monique—The Children’s War (A compelling story about two young children from two different social classes growing up in the midst of WWII, both seeking to survive extreme turmoil in their lives.), Marillier, Juliet—Daughter of the Forest (A fantasy tale about a young girl who self-sacrifices her life to save her brothers from an evil spell.), Umrigar, Thrity N.—Space between us, The: a novel (Story of two women from Bombay, India. Despite their social differences, they equally suffer similar heartaches.)

Similar Authors and Works (Nonfiction): Doubleday, Veronica—Three Women of Herat: A Memoir of Life, Love and Friendship in Afghanistan (An author and her husband move to Afghanistan to do research and write about their experience in Afghanistan.), Logan, Harriet—Unveiled: Voices of Women in Afghanistan (Award winning British photographer, documents the courageous lives of Afghan women.), Sulima and Hala, Swift, Batya—Behind the Burqa: Our Life in Afghanistan and How We Escaped to Freedom (The memoir of two sisters who fled from Afghanistan 20 years apart. They reveal the sacrifice and survival of their lives and the women of their country.)

Name: Semiramis M. Grady Date: December 5, 2007