For me, The Kite Runner was a revelation. The first half of the book was, without question, much, much better than the second half, yet through and through it remained an excellent read. Shortly after finishing the book, I went to the library in search of another Khaled Hosseini read. I settled on A Thousand Splendid Suns, the book Hosseini wrote following The Kite Runner. While reading The Kite Runner, I complained about how little time was given to women. How can you write a book that critiques Islam while largely leaving out the female perspective? In this way, A Thousand Splendid Suns has, insofar, delivered. In most other aspects, however, A Thousand Splendid Suns has fallen well short of the lofty expectations that I originally set for it.
A Thousand Splendid Suns feels a lot like “The Kite Runner 2.0”. Rather than invent new plot and setting aspects, Hosseini chooses instead to reuse much of what made The Kite Runner so unique and enjoyable. Both books deal with infidelity and its consequences. In The Kite Runner, Baba and Ali keep the fact that Baba fathered an illegitimate son a secret. Hassan, said illegitimate child, lives and appears to all to be Ali’s child. This allows Baba to maintain his good standing in Kabul. The same is true in A Thousand Splendid Suns as a Baba-like figure fathers a girl with a housemaid. Instead of keeping them close, the man (Jalil), builds a hut in the woods for his illegitimate child and his mistress (Mariam and Nana, respectively). Nana goes on to commit suicide. This made me think of Sohrab’s attempted suicide, and also the twisty-turny The Da Vinci Code-esque feel of the second part of The Kite Runner.
That being said, A Thousand Splendid Suns does touch on the female perspective, as Mariam is wedded through arranged marriage to a man she doesn’t know and has no interest in marrying. Many women, as depicted in this book, are truly powerless. They are forced to wear burkas in public, and A Thousand Splendid Suns chronicles rampant domestic abuse. Hosseini also examines the double standard between men and women. Mariam discovers pornography belonging to her husband. This goes strongly against Islam, yet he still forces her to wear the burqa, etc. and follow a strict form of Islam.
All in all, A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner were eerily similar. Both are good books and I think that had I read his second book first, I may have liked it more than his first. It’s just unfortunate that Hosseini felt the need to make them so unnecessarily similar.
I agree that something The Kite Runner lacked was the perspective of women. I noticed this early on in the book as Amir described his childhood and seemed to have no connection to any female character, besides the idea of his dead mother. I was wondering if there is any other aspect of A Thousand Splendid Suns that made it better than Kite Runner, besides the addition of the perspective of women.
ReplyDeleteI have not gotten too far into A Thousand Splendid Suns, but insofar Islam seems to be playing a greater role as well. For most of The Kite Runner Amir is not very religious and Baba never is, and A Thousand Splendid Suns is certainly different in this respect.
DeleteWhat about the second part of he novel did you not like? I thought that it was written much weaker, but I enjoyed the plot.
ReplyDeleteI admire that you went out and got the second book in hopes of seeing a new perspective. Alas, that appears it is not the case. From your description I can definitely see the similarities between the two books, but does either do enough to critic Islam in your opinion? FInally, a great post to wrap up the project.
Thanks Biggie Wallz. I thought that the second half of The Kite Runner was very fast paced and I found that change, after the more mellow first half of the book, a little jarring. I also thought it was a little far-fetched that Assef, the childhood bully, was the bad guy in the end.
DeleteI don't think either book critiques Islam and I don't think that either book should: the problem is less Islam and more many people practicing Islam. This distinction is made in A Thousand Splendid Suns as not all women have the same rights. To further this argument, I recently read something in National Geographic that talked about how women in Saudi Arabia have achieved more in their pursuit of equality in 10 years than American women did in 100. Many women depicted are Afghani equivalents of American women, so Hosseini avoids pinning everything on Islam.