A week or so ago, I finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini). I’d read The Kite Runner, as someone suggested it at book group. I really wasn’t sure about The Kite Runner. I found it very hard to handle in some ways, and was left with a huge sense of frustration with the protagonist. Overall I was quit ambivalent about the book, and this ambivalence led to my standing in front of the “Buy One, Get One Half Price” stand in W H Smiths at the railway station and wondering what I should buy in addition to The Reader. A Thousand Splendid Suns wasn’t really top of the list, but with the limited selection, was what I bought. Interestingly, it was then the book I began on the train, not The Reader. I had seen the film of The Reader, knew exactly what was coming to me, and didn’t want that on that particular day. In fact, it remains unread on my shelf, but I’ll get to it one day.
This book, I enjoyed much more than The Kite Runner. Over the length of the book I did manage to start liking some of the characters, even where I found them or their situations very annoying. Possibly because it is very clear who the “baddies” are, for the most part. I enjoyed how the main characters manufactured themselves a happy ending of sorts and how that happy ending wasn’t fairy-tale castles and happily ever afters. You knew things would still be a bit (or a lot) crap from time to time. Having said that, this isn’t a book without some distinctly harrowing moments. In fact, at one point I put it down, said “Ugh” (literally) and didn’t pick it up again for a week. Some days you don’t need harrowing. Overall, though, it was interesting, engaging, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone, even if they didn’t like The Kite Runner. What’s more, if Khaled Hosseini writes any other books, while I won’t be running out on launch day, I will be very interested to read them.
