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AudibleInk - A Thousand Splendid Suns: A Novel
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List Price: $39.95
Our Price: $26.37
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Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio
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FREE SHIPPING on Orders over $25!
Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780743554459
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 0743554450
Label: Simon & Schuster Audio
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio
Number Of Items: 11
Publication Date: 2007-05-22
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Release Date: 2007-05-22
Studio: Simon & Schuster Audio
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Editorial Reviews:
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AFTER MORE THAN TWO YEARS ON THE BESTSELLER LISTS, KHALED HOSSEINI RETURNS WITH A BEAUTIFUL, RIVETING, AND HAUNTING NOVEL OF ENORMOUS CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE. A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years -- from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding -- that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives -- the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness -- are inextricable from the history playing out around them. Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heartwrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love -- a stunning accomplishment.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Emotionally Moving!
Comment: This is a great story and I highly recommend it to anyone! It is very emotional and will have you flipping from page to page as quickly as you can just to see what's next!!! Almost impossible to put down! This will shed a lot of light on the aspect of women and religious fundamentalism!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent and prompt service
Comment: This vendor provided excellent and prompt service.
The book I ordered arrived in excellent condition.
I hope to order from this source again soon.
Respectfully,
Christine from California
Customer Rating:
Summary: Inspiring
Comment: This is an incredible story of survival, told with compassion and sensitivity. Heroines to inspire anyone. A male protagonist that steals the heart. Hope is alive!!!!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Woes of Misogyny
Comment: I had no intention of reading this book because of the negative publicity surrounding Khaled Hosseini's previously published novel, The Kite Runner, and the movie based on it. I know some people who will not watch any movie with rape scenes. Unfortunately, I'm not that ideologically consistent, as my favorite director is Sergio Leone, and his films have a lot of rape scenes.
In any event, a local Muslima was leading a book discussion group which was planning to talk about A Thousand Splendid Suns, so I decided to read it and participate.
I should list reviews in major publications.
1. Christian Science Monitor, by Yvonne Zipp
2. New York Times, by Michiko Kakutani
3. London Times by Joan Smith
4. Washington Post by Johnathan Yardley
My first impression while reading this was its similarity to a film hindi, you know, where the twins are seperated at birth, one becomes an outlaw, the other a policeman, and both fall in love with the rich man's daughter, who is going to be married off to a politician, etc. Or an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, where the detectives' uncovering of one gruesome crime leads to the discovery of an even more gruesome crime.
So the book is an unending tale of the woes of misogyny. And however cliche that may be, it does not change the fact that misogyny does cause a lot of damage in people's lives.
In addition, the author actually tries to teach contemporary Afghani history through the characters' lives. In the author's retelling of events, the period of communist rule in the 1970s-1980s, comes out looking the best, at least from the vantage point of Kabul. And while the Taliban come out looking bad, the previous mujahideen factions also come out looking bad. While a lot of this is old news to most Muslims who have followed Afghanistan for the last 30 years, the discussion group participants in Augusta, GA remarked that, despite the fact that U.S. forces have been deployed in Afghanistan for nearly 7 years, they learned a lot from this aspect of Khaled Hosseini's book.
One concern I have is whether Khaled Hosseini whitewashes the current government of Afghanistan. My understanding is that it relies so much on the anti-Taliban warlords that life for most Afghanis has improved marginally. Has misogyny decreased since the Taliban left Kabul? What about Malalai Joya, who has been suspended from the Afghani parliament for speaking against its warlords? In addition to her June 2007 interview on Democracy! Now, she was featured in a [wideangle] episode which aired in September 2007. Economic improvement has occurred through the increase of opium production.
The novel has an obvious anti-Pushtun bias. And it seems as if this is how the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan is shaping up, with primarily Pushtun Taliban controlling areas of the south and primarily non-Pushtun militias ruling in various northern and western provinces and taking part in the weak central government. In this regard, the novel fails to achieve the uplifting ending it portrays through the individual character of Laila because there is no approaching of consensus towards a less misogynistic, more ethnically and religiously tolerant society.
Having said all that, the novel is an easy read, and there is a plot twist that I did not expect. Most of the people who attended the discussion group said the novel was better than Kite Runner. So I'd say it's a good vacation read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Enthralling...
Comment: This is so beautifully written. Absolutely enthralling and you cannot put it down. The two main characters are so well drawn you can actually feel empathy for them at what they have to endure throughout the story. This is in short..one the best books I have ever read.
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