"Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. Always" Nana's advice to Mariam, and how true!
A Thousand Splendid Suns is one of the best written fiction novels I have read in a long time! The story is set in the backdrop of Afghanistan's troubled war times - the rule of the Taliban and its impact of the same on the lives of Mariam and Laila.
Khaled Hosseini has done a superb job in depicting the life of a common man in Afghanistan before and during the Taliban rule. Theatre, arts, music formed an integral part of Afghanistan's culture. I liked the way the story has been written - the reference to the Soviet invasion, the war fought by Mossud and then the impact of the Taliban rule has been brought in, but the focus remains on the lives of Mariam and Laila.
Mariam is an illegitimate child born to Nana and Jalil. She adores her father Jalil who spends only a few hours in a week with Mariam. As Mariam grows up, she starts demanding more of her dad's attention and one day demands that he should accompany her to watch Pinocchio. Mariam spends the entire night outside her father's house waiting in anticipation, hoping that her father will accept her as an integral part of his family. Little does she know that her mother had been right from the beginning. In that split second, when Mariam spots the known face hiding behind a curtain, Mariam's dreams of a big happy family are shattered. The iconic image of her father is shattered and she realizes that the love and affection her father had bestowed upon her was nothing but guilt. Unfortunately Mariam has to pay a heavy price for this unfortunate truth. When she reaches home, she sees her mother's body hanging from a tree! Mariam's world has changed in the last 24 hours, she has lost the only person close to her, her image of the man she adored has been shattered to pieces and she has no one to count on.
Mariam is given shelter in her father's house, but this time the place which she longed for all the 15 years of her life suddenly feels claustrophobic to her. She knows that she doesn’t belong here...and yet she doesn’t know what she should do or where she should go. Just like her fate was sealed at her birth, her future life also gets dictated by the legitimate wives of Jalil. Mariam is married off to a much older man, and packed off from Herat to Kabul.
Kabul brings another entirely new chapter in Mariam's life! She is subjected to the whims and fancies of Rashid, who is expectantly waiting for a child from Mariam. When both of them realize that Mariam cannot conceive a child, she is subjected to brutalities and domestic violence. When she first entered Rashid's house, she was expected to remain protected from the other men behind the veil, which is a new experience to her; however she feels nice that Rashid feels protective towards her. But when she discovers porn magazines in Rashid's room, she finds the entire situation very ironical!
Midway through the book, the focus of the story changes to Laila, who is much younger than Mariam and lives with her parents on the same street where Mariam lives. Laila and Tariq are in love with each other; but due to the war situation, they have to accept their fate and part ways. Laila's tragic experiences of parting ways with Tariq, and then her parents losing their lives in a bombing attack leave Laila devastated. Rasheed rescues Laila and gives her shelter and protection with the sole intention of marrying her. Mariam, although is in a lousy marriage with Rasheed, feels threatened by Laila's presence. The lives of Laila and Mariam, the miseries that Laila and Mariam have to bear under 'Rasheed's rule', the influence of Taliban on the people of Afghanistan has been beautifully captured in this novel. The lashings that Laila has to take from the Taliban officers because she is walking alone, unaccompanied on the streets, just so that she can meet her daughter Aziza brings shivers down the spine. Afghanistan might not have been the most developed of nations, but women there were educated and working professionals at one point. Since the civil war started in Afghanistan and since the Taliban took over, women were oppressed and subjected to being slaves - literally! And this is still the case in many parts of the region.
The sacrifices of Mariam for Laila, Aziza and Zalmai are inspiring. Laila gets back to a normal life with Tariq and the kids, but aches to get back to the soils of Afghanistan. She visits Herat, and visits the kolba where Mariam grew up. She finds that Jalil has left behind his entire legacy to Mariam. The war has impacted Jalil's family as well, he lost his children to the war and died a lonely death. Jalil had hoped that Mariam would come back to Herat one day and forgive him! Laila uses the money left behind by Jalil to help build the orphanage in Kabul.
The narratives, the influence of television, the love for movies like Titanic are all representative of the fact that people of Afghanistan are no different from people elsewhere. It is unfortunate that the people of Afghanistan had to suffer under the Taliban rule and get caught in the middle of the Al Qaeda and the USA bombings.
All in all a very well written book, and an extremely touching story. If you like fiction, this is a must read.
No comments:
Post a Comment