Issues addressed: sisterhood, abuse of power, love, the power of human relationships, the power of womanhood, feminism
“And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion. And whenever those twin poisonous flowers began to sprout in the parched land of that field, Mariam uprooted them. She uprooted them and ditched them before they took hold.”
DISCLAIMER: this review contains spoilers!
If I could, I’d add about forty-two more quotes from A Thousand Splendid Suns to the beginning of this blog post. However, I unfortunately cannot. Spoilers and what not. (“Laila has moved on. Because in the end she knows that is all she can do. That and hope.”) Oops (I had to). A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. A Thousand Splendid Suns. A. Thousand. Splendid. Suns. A Thousand Suns that are Splendid. Allow me to describe what this book did to my heart. It A.) tore it apart in the best way possible, B.) managed to stitch my broken parts back together and C.) still leave it mismatched. That is the simplest way to describe how this book made me feel. The power Hosseini holds in his words is breathtaking. I’ve read this novel twice and analysed it to a point where I truly felt like I understood nothing about this book and everything at once, and all I can say is that words are more beautiful when Hosseini writes them. Indeed, this man opened my eyes to not only the struggle (complete understatement) Afghan women went through this past half century, but as well the power we let certain people hold in our lives.
If I have learnt anything from Mariam and Laila, it is that we have endless strength. Humans have a tendency to give up and take the easy way out instead of taking the hard, long, bumpy road. Oh, but not Mariam and Laila, no, definitely not. These women practically lived on that road of hardships, and I am truly inspired by their lack of frailty. Hosseini portrays these women as endless vessels of vigour and power despite their low stance in comparison to the men in Afghanistan. Imagine the power of Hosseini’s well-crafted words to make a reader unconsciously feel these women’s strength while they, helpless to Afghan men and the Taliban, are being beaten to within an inch of their lives and having rocks shoved down their throats simply for not preparing a meal on time? Imagine.
As I have already talked about friendships significantly in The Outsiders and Little Women, I wouldn’t want to touch too much on that aspect in this novel, even though it is one of the main pillars this book was built on. Instead, I want to focus on power. Power. What a funny word. So small, only five letters, yet so, so… powerful. Five letters, and thousands of wars are being fought, millions of lives are being lost, all because of five little letters? The sad reality of our world, readers. I wish I could lie to you and say that the way Mariam and Laila were treated in this novel was just a figment of Hosseini’s vast and creative imagination, and that in real life, women are respected and valued and loved. I wish I could.
But I cannot.
All over the world, some women are seen as objects, as a means to satisfy man’s internal hunger and then be disposed of. I never used to truly absorb this. I mean, we would see the occasional Instagram post about feminism and we would move on. But not anymore. I am in awe of these women. I loved the fact that Hosseini crafted Mariam and Laila to show significant power in the most unorthodox ways. When I say “power”, what comes to mind? Abuse. Money. Strength. Social status. Donald Trump. All bland things that are so unworthy of such an impactful word. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, however, this is what power is shown as: love, sacrifice, commitment, kindness and, most importantly, weakness. Ironic, isn’t it? Mariam and Laila silently emit the rays of their inner lioness by accepting each other for their flaws, by loving each other like mother and daughter, and even ten times stronger than that. Are you going to tell me, dear reader, that Rasheed beating Laila until she urinated blood is more powerful than Mariam humbly sacrificing her life to the Taliban so that Laila can escape with the love of her life and kids? Are you going to tell me that Mariam accepting to be stoned to death is not five times as impactful as the weasel of a man Rasheed’s vulgar display of his strength? You’d be sadly mistaken if you did.
How about Laila, a girl who barely reached twenty, sacrificing her youth and virginity to seventy-something-year old Rasheed so that her child could live comfortably? Will this be easily trampled by some stupid six figures in someone’s bank account? What has our world gotten to? How have we fallen so low that power is seen as something so corrupt and filthy and sickening?
I’m going to tell you something, reader, a top-notch secret I learnt from A Thousand Splendid Suns: Power lies within the softness of our hearts. Power is showing kindness to someone you don’t even know. Power is loving and loving and then loving again despite all the hurt and hardships in your life. Power is showing love to those who have only shown you hate. Power is being a respectful woman, power is being a respectful man. Power is not, I repeat, it is not the strength of the muscle in your arms or the wad of cash that bulges out of your pocket. It is…it is simply love. Love for people, love for nature, love for equality, love for God. Nothing bad can sprout from love.
I hope you learnt something from this post/book. If you haven’t read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, I advise you to do so quickly. It will change your perspective on a lot of things.
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