We have heard about the war in Afghanistan, about the Taliban, and about the bombings, the refugees and the millions killed. Have we ever stopped to think, however, what it would be like to live in an Afghani’s shoes? Khaled Housseini, author of the 2004 New York Times Bestseller, The Kite Runner, gives us this chance with his novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, in which he details the riveting lives of two women: Mariam and Laila, and their experiences both as women in a traditional Muslim society and as survivors of the war.

Mariam is a harami, the bastard child of a man with multiple lives in the town of Herat. She is hidden from society, and then after a sad twist of fate, she is given away by her father to a man, Rasheed, who is at least 30 years her senior, to be his wife. She is forced to move to Kabul, give everything up, and submit completely to this beastly man, who treats her as a servant and a mere creature due to her bastard status. He beats her relentlessly and thinks nothing of it.

Laila is born to the neighbors of Mariam and Rasheed, and grows up in a very liberal and educated household — a glimpse at a much more liberated Afghanistan before the war began and the Taliban came into power. However, once the war does break out, it robs her of everything precious in her life — her family, and the love of her life—and she ends up having no choice but to become the second wife of Rasheed. With Rasheed, she is forced to wear a burqa, can no longer go out and is treated as a prisoner in his house.

The book details the sad, oppressed and brutal lives of these women, who suffer an outstanding amount of injuries at the hand of their authoritarian and traditional husband. The only joy they find in their lives comes from being with their children. Rasheed is symbolic of the hold the warring tribes, and then the Taliban, have over the country of Afghanistan. He loves his wives, but beats them savagely, and takes away their freedom, education, and almost all hope for a better life.

I don't want to give away the ending, but the author definitely brings the book full circle. While reading it, I guarantee you will feel their desperation, get angry, cry and sympathize right alongside them.

Housseini does a beautiful job of painting the lives of these women, while also narrating the before, during and aftermath of the Afghanistan war. One part of the novel that struck me was when the September 11, 2001 tragedy occurs, you get a glimpse of what happened through the Afghani perspective.

I highly recommend this book, for entertainment as well as educational purposes. You will learn so much about what we take for granted— a woman being able to leave her house without a man —and perhaps gain a greater awareness of a foreign world we can’t even imagine living in.

Housseini is also the author of the New York Times Bestseller The Kite Runner, the story of two boys growing up in Afghanistan during the war.