I just finished a wonderful book. A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, is a novel about two Afghan women. It covers a period from about 1974 to 2003. This was the beginning of an incredibly turbulent period in Afghanistan, one that is still ongoing. It's a period of conflict between traditional ways, changing times, warlords, Soviets, invasions, the Taliban, and Americans, as told through the lives of these two women. It's not necessarily pretty, but it is inspiring.
Khaled Hosseini is the author of The Kite Runner. He was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, but has lived in the United States since 1980 and is an American citizen now. He knows his native country well. And he knows how to write. The people in this story are very real. I knew people like them during my time in Kandahar. Actually, I knew people like them in Baghdad as well, and I know people like them right here in western North Carolina. People are people; it's their situations that are different. If you're at all interested in Afghanistan, or in people living under extremely tough conditions, read A Thousand Splendid Suns.
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