A Thousand Splendid Suns Summary

-Khaled Hosseini

                  






About Author

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. In 1976, the Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris.  Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1988. In March 2001, while practicing medicine, Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, which was published in 2003. Today, Khaled Hosseini is one of the most recognized and bestselling authors in the world. His books, The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed, have been published in over seventy countries and sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

 

Summary
Mariam and her mother, Nana, a previous housekeeper for Mariam’s well-off father, Jalil, have been exiled to a hut near a small Afghan village to avoid humiliating Jalil’s three wives and nine children in Herat. Nana bitterly criticizes both Mariam and Jalil, who visits his daughter weekly. Even though the village mullah needs Nana to send the girl to school, she refuses, insisting that the only skill a woman needs is resolution.
To celebrate her fifteenth birthday, Mariam requests Jalil to take her to a cinema in Herat, but both parents energetically object. When Jalil fails to meet her, Mariam walks alone to the city, only to be told that her father is not at home. On her homecoming she realizes that Nana has killed herself.
Unenthusiastically, Jalil takes Mariam into his home. The three wives, who wish to get free of her permanently, inform her that they have found a suitor, Rasheed, a forty-five-year-old shoemaker from Kabul, whom she will marry tomorrow. At the wedding, she is unnoticed by her father. She mopes in Kabul until Rasheed initiates her to behave like a wife. His only son had sunk, and he wants another son. Waiting at the common oven, Mariam meets Fariba, a politically and socially generous neighbor, whose husband, Hakim, is a teacher.
Traditional Rasheed buys Mariam a burka, floor-length clothing that covers her completely; he orders her to wear the garment in public. Rasheed takes Mariam to a restaurant, purchase her a beautiful shawl, and shares her bed that night, but when she miscarries in the public bathhouse, his attitude changes. After four years of marriage and six more failures, which he regards as personal abuses, he believes Mariam is a useless 19 years old; he often beats her.
In the meantime, Hakim and Fariba have a daughter, Laila. Fariba is full of fire until their two sons go on jihad against the occupying Soviets. After the brothers are killed, Laila becomes a caregiver for her parents, preparing her father’s dinner while he helps her with homework. A calm and enduring scholar, Hakim needs her to get an education before wedding.
When the Soviets are finally driven from Afghanistan, unrest returns to Kabul, as local generals turn against each other. Fariba supports the Mujahideen, the Islamic militia that her sons had joined, but Hakim doubts them and wants to leave Kabul. As ethnic violence lasts, Laila is forced to droplet of school after a fellow student is blown to bits in the street.
Laila’s closest friend, the neighbor boy Tariq, has an non-natural leg because of a Soviet land mine. Tariq and Laila become near after Tariq announces that his family is going to a refugee camp in Pakistan. Although he begs Laila to come with them, she cannot leave her father, who seems lost without Fariba’s support. Hakim and Fariba are killed when their home is bombarded, and Rasheed finds Laila hurt in the ruins. Mariam unwillingly tends her as she recovers. Later, Laila is informed that Tariq has died in a Pakistani hospital. Detecting her husband with Laila, Mariam understands that Rasheed, now sixty years old, is dating the fourteen-year-old girl. Mariam tries to discourage him, but she is at his compassion, as is Laila, who accepts his wedding offer because she is pregnant with Tariq’s baby.
Rasheed keeps his new fiancee at home, and Mariam serves them both. The two women hate each other until Laila’s baby girl, Aziza, brings them together. In time, Mariam becomes another mother to Laila and a grandmother to the child. Laila requests her to escape with them to Pakistan. They make to escape but cannot travel without a male relative. A young husband offers to help but deceives them, keeping their money. They are asked by police and returned to Rasheed, who throws Aziza across the room and jails the women for 3 days.
The Taliban seizes Kabul, leading Rasheed to view them as deliverers. They allocate strict rules: No school for girls; all men must have beards; no jobs for women, who must stay in their homes unless, with a male relative. The university is closed, books other than the Qur՚n are scorched, and musicians are imprisoned. Rasheed looms to send Aziza away or to lie about Laila’s behavior to the authorities. Then Laila notices she is pregnant with Rasheed’s child.
Laila goes to the former women’s hospital and is turned away because the hospital now takes male patients only. She is guided towards a small hospital without medicine, clean water and electricity. She requires a caesarean segment and must suffer through the surgery without painkillers. Her female doctor, who is required to perform her duties while wearing a burka, is unable to properly see through the garment, so a nurse guards the door to warn of any approaching Taliban. Laila gives birth to a boy, Zalmai.
Two-year-old Zalmai loves both parents but favors Rasheed, who is calm with him while holding his wives in dislike. Although in duty, Rasheed brings home a television for his son, but agrees that daughter Aziza, who is six years old, will be on the streets. Laila objects and Rasheed slaps her. They struggle, and then he shoves a gun barrel in her mouth. Mariam ends up excavating a hole to hide the forbidden television.
Rasheed’s shop burns and he must sell nearly everything. He steals food, but the family begins to famish. Finally, Aziza is sent to an orphanage so she will get some food. The director seems caring and reliefs Laila, who is weeping, but Aziza frights when her mother leaves. Laila is allowed to visit her daughter but cannot travel without Rasheed, who often purposely stops and turns back, forcing her to do the same. Without him, she dangers a beating from the Taliban, but she quickly learns to use padding to cushion the potential blows.
Tariq suddenly appears at Laila’s home; the story of his death was false. Son Zalmai, although still an innocent, throws a tantrum, luring his mother away from Tariq. Furious, Rasheed beats her with his belt, but she retaliates. He begins to choke her. Mariam, realizing he will murder both of them if he can, hits him with a shovel. Laila revives from the beating, horrified, but Mariam is very calm. Together they dispose of Rasheed’s body, and Laila tells Zalmai his father has gone away. While Laila, Aziza, and Zalmai disappear, Mariam refuses to escape; she will accept the blame. She is sent to a women’s prison and publicly executed for murdering her husband.
Arriving with the children in Pakistan, Laila and Tariq marry. Once the Taliban are driven from Afghanistan, the family returns to contribute to the rebuilding. Kabul has changed—a seeming normalcy—although the local warlords responsible for so many deaths have also returned. Laila teaches at the orphanage where Aziza once lived, and she is once again pregnant.
Not necessary to write this but can be useful.
News

Why Afghanistan is more dangerous than ever?

Huge death tolls that would once have made headlines are becoming commonplace in Afghanistan, as the Taliban and other militant groups flex their muscles daily against a US-backed military struggling to cope.
There remains no clear end in sight for a war that has turned into a bloody stalemate, as the BBC World Service's Dawood Azami explains.
Is the violence getting worse?
Since the US-led invasion in 2001, Afghanistan has never been as insecure as it is now. The Taliban control more territory than at any point since the removal of their regime 17 years ago.
The Afghan war has already become the longest war in US history. With the passage of time, the conflict has not only become more intense - it has also become more complicated. The attacks are becoming bigger, more frequent, more widespread and much deadlier. Both sides - the Taliban and the US/Nato-backed Afghan government - are trying to gain the upper hand.
On 10 August, the Taliban entered Ghazni, a strategic provincial capital on a key highway south of Kabul, before the Afghan security forces supported by US advisors and air strikes pushed them back. On 15 May, the Taliban entered the capital of Farah province in western Afghanistan, close to the Iranian border.
Many Taliban fighters are killed and injured as they are pushed back after attacks on provincial capitals, but such attacks have a huge propaganda value for the group and boost their morale and recruitment. The insurgents also take weapons and vehicles with them as they retreat. Many other towns and district centres remain under constant Taliban threat.
Large parts of provinces like Helmand and Kandahar - where hundreds of US, UK and other foreign troops were killed - are now under Taliban control. Meanwhile, civilian casualties are at an unprecedented level. According to the UN, more than 10,000 civilians were killed or injured in 2017, and the number is expected to be even higher in 2018.