January 2009: A Thousand Splendid Suns (Hosseini)

Post date: Jan 07, 2010 10:45:42 PM

Many thanks to Aimee for hosting our discussion of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini (2007) on Tuesday, January 20, 2008. Naturally conversation diverted to the inauguration, as well as the Afghanistan exhibit at the Asian Art Museum that several readers had seen with our docent-led tour by Anne Adams '73 on January 17th.

Our group ranged from class of '65 to '05, and included our prodigal sister from England, Ginny, who follows what we read and joins us when she's in town. Although everyone found the story engaging, several readers were unimpressed with Hosseini's writing, finding it heavy-handed, and occasionally unbelievable. We imagined that he had composed the novel from stories of many different women, stitching together a patchwork of real experiences not always neatly.

We talked about the power of "home" and sense of nationalism that leads Afghanis to return. Even those who managed to leave want to go back to their country, despite the struggles of living there, because although it is war-torn, Kabul is still home, it is familiar, and it is filled with memories.

Most of us thought The Kite Runner was a better book, perhaps based more on Hosseini's own, direct experiences.

For information about one of many school projects in Afghanistan, see the website for Trust in Education (www.trustineducation.org). Three Cups of Tea, which we read in 2007, describes Greg Mortenson's nonprofit the Central Asia Institute, that is also focused on education especially for girls. See www.threecupsoftea.com for more information.