THERE ARE TWO SORTS OF NOVELIST; those who mature and improve with each book and those whose first novel always remains their finest work. It is too early to state that Khaled Hosseini falls into the latter category but to judge from your responses online, it is clear that A Thousand Splendid Suns does not fare well compared with The Kite Runner.

There was praise, though, even from those who preferred The Kite Runner. “Suns told an insightful tale, was a page-turner and was well worth reading,” according to Karen, from High Wycombe. But she points out that, while Hosseini was able to weave political issues and personalities together in The Kite Runner, he failed to provide depth of characterisation to Mariam and Laila.

Given the adoration heaped upon Hosseini’s first novel, any subsequent book was always likely to fall short — especially since he made it so easy to invite comparison.

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My first reaction after finishing A Thousand Splendid Suns is of a strong story and worthwhile read. Mariam’s childhood countryside could have been almost anywhere, though, even in rural Britain.

Her disturbed mother, the poverty in which they lived, and the absent father whose visits she so treasured, contrast with Laila’s city upbringing and her academic father. It was when the women’s lives were shattered by events beyond their control and they were thrown together that I found the story most compelling. But the themes of domestic violence and the subjugation of women could have been set almost anywhere. There are vivid images of war and its effects, but little of the flavour of Afghanistan.

Suzanne Cobb, Isle of Islay, Scotland

February 8, 2008

The author offers a view on life in Afghanistan from the perspective of a young girl. But Alyson Rudd wasn’t entirely convinced

I CAN picture a thousand splendid book club gatherings brimming with beaming faces, with everyone in agreement that Khaled Hosseini’s second novel was well worth reading. And it is. Hosseini opens up a neglected culture and highlights in a highly accessible way how a nation has suffered. It is always simpler to convey an atrocity through the suffering of a few rather than many, and in telling us the story of Mariam and Laila, he illustrates how heartbreaking life can be in Afghanistan.

But A Thousand Splendid Suns is a novel, not a teaching aid, and while I am glad that I read it, it is far from a great book. It jarred, ever so slightly, from the start. The simplicity of the language reminded me of so many other books about suffering in other cultures. That approach works best if the story is told in the first person and is true. But in Suns, this device is less effective because Hosseini was never a young girl who pined for her handsome father to visit.

I was slightly disappointed that Afghanistan was not brought to life as I had hoped. It is all very well to place in italics all the words with which the Western world might be unfamiliar — pakol, chup ko, khastegar — but the explanation of them was of tourist guide standard. There is much affection for the country among the characters, but I felt cut off from the sights and smells and atmosphere.

Some critics have hinted that Hosseini’s approach to explaining the political backdrop is of the “A is for Afganistan . . . and J is for Jihad” variety. At times it all felt woefully patronising, but the book would have stuttered had he attempted too much detail. At least anyone who did not know about the Soviet invasion, the battle with the Mujahideen and the rise of the Taleban would have been enlightened. Suns is primarily a novel about friendship in adversity, and when it comes to tear-jerking moments of heroism and devotion, Hosseini excels. And where he might have truly fallen down, by trying to understand how women feel and think, Hosseini proves adept. Suns is worth reading; just do not expect a masterpiece.

Storytelling tradition in a country of conflict
by Elaheh Rostami-Povey

Afghanistan is an old civilisation that has gone through periods of high prosperity and the depths of ruin. The influences of Ancient Rome, Greece, Arabia, Iran, India and China have shaped its extraordinary diversities, including many ethnicities (Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks), religions (Sunni and Shia Islam) and languages (Pashto, Dari, Hazaragi, Uzbek). Dari, a variation of Persian, is spoken in urban areas.

The country’s history is characterised by both conflict and coexistence. Ethnic conflicts have predominantly been the result of policies manipulated by Afghan leaders and foreign invaders.

Despite many diversities, intellectuals on all sides of its borders, especially those between the Iranians and the Afghans, recognise the common bond of language, literature and arts. This is exemplified by poets of ancient periods such as Jami, Rumi and Ferdowsi and by Behzad, the greatest Persian miniaturist, who was born in the Afghan city of Herat and did much of his work there. This heritage has been treasured by generations in Afghanistan. Today, despite a 70 per cent illiteracy rate, Afghan people keep their language and literature alive by passing on their traditional stories.

In recent years there have been a number of books in Englsh about contemporary Afghanistan, including novels by the Algerian Yasmina Khadra (The Swallows of Kabul) and the Afghanistan-born, US-resident Khaled Hosseini. But novels in Pashto or Persian, by Afghans living in Afghanistan, are few and far between. Let us hope that one day Afghanistan will emerge from the clouds of foreign invasion, illiteracy, and conflict so that the new generation of Afghans can add a 21st-century literature of their own to their heritage.

Elaheh Rostami-Povey is a lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies and the author of Afghan Women, Identity and Invasion (Zed Books)



January 25, 2008

After the phenomenon of The Kite Runner, a second insight into the private world of Kabul

THE KITE RUNNER was a phenomenal success, so it isn't surprising that Khaled Hosseini's follow-up is being devoured by reading groups. A Thousand Splendid Suns is a book in the midst of hype. A member of my book club cautioned me to keep a box of tissues at the ready. Several friends said they thought it was better than The Kite Runner. It's the book at the top of many people's must-read-next list.

The novel is dedicated to the women of Afghanistan and it is about their struggle as various regimes heap indignity and cruelty upon them. The harshest treatment, however, is at home. Mariam is let down by the father she adores and sent, at the age of 15, to Kabul to marry a shoemaker. She had dreamt of going to school; instead, she prepares food and watches her husband eat it, fearful he will find fault. At first you imagine that he is merely gruff and traditional - he is uncomfortable when she cries - but he quickly becomes an ogre. Laila, Mariam's neighbour, is educated but she has to bury her intellect and her emotions in order to survive. The novel centres on these two women and how their affection for each other gives them respite and resolve.

There is tangible affection for Kabul, too, which makes the bombings and destruction all the more terrible. Hosseini does not condemn particular regimes; he lets them damn themselves as they are by turns ludicrous and murderous. Finding the severed foot of a friend or neighbour becomes a commonplace, but still many of the city's people stay in their homes, hopeful the nightmare will end.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Bloomsbury, £11.99, 384pp

Thanks to Bloomsbury, we have ten free copies of A Thousand Splendid Suns to give away. E-mail your group's name and address to books@thetimes.co.uk

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