Khaled Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns

Pros: Fantastic Story Telling

Cons: None

The Bottom Line: A Thousand Splendid Suns is a magnificent book by Khaled Hosseini.

Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns is a beautiful story set in Afghanistan which spans the early 1970s to 2003.  The characters are rich and compelling and their stories are heart wrenching.  The novel will open one’s eyes to the horrible ...

Pros: Entertaining, educational and interesting. For woman in the middle-east, the story continues on.

Cons: A little trouble getting into a second character...that changed fairy quickly.

The Bottom Line: Khaled Hosseini follows his Best Seller, The Kite Runner, with another soaring tale of A Thousand Splendid Suns. He has another MUST READ here.

Review: I was fortunate to read Khaled Hosseini's Best Selling book, The Kite Runner, last summer. That story concentrated on the life of a young Afghan boy as he grows up in turbulent times. It was an incredible read full of emotion. I found that Mr. ...

Pros: Raw emotion and power!

Cons: None at all ... unless you call being moved to tears a con!

The Bottom Line:

To over use a cliché, this book belongs on everyone's "must read" list.

Review: Long before Mariam was capable of even understanding the concept, she knew she was a "harami" - illegitimate and unwanted. Her impoverished, embittered mother, rejected by the wealthy Afghani business man who had fathered Mariam, spirals downward ...

Pros: A meaningful and touching story...Thought provoking and frightening at the same time

Cons: none

The Bottom Line: An insightful and disturbing look into the life of women in Afghanistan before and during it's turbulent and historic war years.

Review: While recuperating from surgery this summer I read two books that made such an impression on me I can hardly get them out of my head…both are by the same author about life in Afghanistan within the same timeframe of the last 30 years…The first, ...

Pros: Real characters, vivid writing

Cons: Sad and brutal at times

The Bottom Line: This book is not light reading, but it well worth it.

Review: I had heard of Khaled Hosseini and his debut novel, The Kite Runner, but hadn't paid much attention. It didn't sound like something I would enjoy. Still, the praise intrigued me enough that when I was offered an advance review copy of Mr. ...

Pros: painfully true, well written, just great

Cons: can be depressing

The Bottom Line: Gets my highest recommendation

Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns is an immensely powerful book that will deliver a 3 megaton dose of reality. I read it simply because I had been hearing so much about it. This is a great book, that is very moving, but be prepared. It is also ...

Pros: Powerful look at women in Afghanistan.

Cons: A few "Hollywood" moments that ring a little false.

The Bottom Line: A look into an previously unexplored world...that of women under the rule of various Afghani governments. Emotional and sometimes gut-wrenching.

Review: Much as in THE KITE RUNNER, A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS occasionally suffers from some fairly "high-schoolish" prose and sometimes the plot twists stretch my willingness to suspend disbelief. (Stretch...not break.) KITE RUNNER has one gigantic leap like ...

Pros: Eloquent, spellbinding novel of love and loss.

Cons: None

The Bottom Line: This is a great book, filled with beauty, love and the sweet song of hope. It will leave a mark on your soul.

Review: I fell in love with Khaled Hosseini's Kite Runner, so when A Thousand Splendid Suns was released, I ordered it immediately. Good books absorb and entertain you. Great books linger in your mind and heart long after the last page has been turned. A ...

Pros: Drew me completely into the story.  Very moving.  Learned about Afghanistan.

Cons: Characters tended to be either all-evil or saintly -- not much in-between.  Melodramatic.

The Bottom Line: A heartfelt novel with a big historic sweep.  Most absorbing novel I've read in a long time!

Review: This is the second novel by Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner.  I read this one first, so I can't compare the two (yet). I liked this very much.  I got pulled into the story so completely that it reminded me of the way I used ...

Pros: Inspirational and educational, while blatantly honest.

Cons: None!

The Bottom Line: Relive Afghanistan's tumultuous recent history through the eyes of its people, particularly women. High quality writing.

Review: The author of "The Kite Runner" brings us a second novel that is as sure to touch your heart as it is to help readers understand Afghan culture over the past several decades. While we in America got brief updates on the evening news, innocent people ...