Thousand Splendid Suns

Unabridged
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Narrator: Atossa Leoni
Genres: Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date: May 2007
Length: 12 hours
Ratings:
Formats:
  • CD
  • WMA
Abridged
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Narrator: Atossa Leoni
Genres: Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date: May 2007
Length: 6 hours, 28 minutes
Ratings:
  • Book Rating: 4/5
Formats:
  • CD
  • WMA

Overview

Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghanistan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them--in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul--they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.

A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.

Reviews (22)

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Written by Anonymous on August 26th, 2009

  • Book Rating: 5/5

Another great book by this author...wonderfully written and read! I look forward to listening and/or reading more books by this author. The book is very sad at times, but it only makes the book more engaging and "real."

Wow!

Written by Anonymous from Sunnyvale, CA on June 23rd, 2009

  • Book Rating: 4/5

A heart wrenching story of the life of two women in Afghanistan. Sometimes I found this book hard to listen to, because the story of the mistreatment and disrespect that many men in that country force upon women is difficult to hear. Nevertheless it is quite interesting, very educational, and does provide a few tidbits of hope - not all men there treat women with such disrespect.

amazing story

Written by lorin from Highlands, NJ on April 6th, 2009

  • Book Rating: 5/5

I enjoyed this book even more than The Kite Runner. This story will break your heart yet leave you with just a tiny bit of hope.

No thanks

Written by Cory on January 29th, 2009

  • Book Rating: 1/5

I had a really hard time following this book. It may be a better read, then to listen to. I couldn't finish it because I had a hard time understanding the narrarator. I am going to try reading this one.

Thousand Splendid Suns

Written by hapkidodoc on January 20th, 2009

  • Book Rating: 5/5

Incredible book. This book and Kite Runner present a picture of the real people of Afghanistan that we Americans need to consider. Most of the time I feel that we should pull out of there and leave them to their own devices then I realize from these books the pain and lost opportunity for life that extremists like the Taliban steal from people.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Written by Sherri on June 7th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 5/5

This book was a quick read, only five CD's for the abridged version. It is a disturbing but very good story and one that women should share with their friends and daughters.

Thousand Slendid Suns

Written by Bruce Curson on May 24th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 4/5

Not in the same class as 'The Kite Runner', which was simply excellent, especially since it was narrated by the author. With that said, 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' was a very powerful story that exposed the difficulty of life as a woman in the Middle East. The narration was not read by the author this time; however, it was very good and was easy to follow. Even though this was the abridged version, there were not any apparent gaps in the story line. A worthy listening experience.

Thousand Splendid Suns

Written by Anonymous from Chautauqua, NY on April 17th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 4/5

A deeply moving accoung of the lives of women in Afganistan by the same skilled author of Kite Runner. Not a book for the faint of heart. It is almost unimaginable here in the U.S. that women anywhere in the world in our times must face such degradation at the hands of their men and culture. Yet they remain optimistic and stoic during the turmoil. An unpleasant insight into Islam as well.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Written by Susan in NJ from Locust, NJ on April 16th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 5/5

This author created a beautiful story out of a very sad and tragic piece of Middle Eastern history. As a Westerner, I can only but imagine the strength, energy and resolve the Afghani women need to manage a day, one day at a time. I enjoyed how the other swapped the focus of each character from one chapter to the next.

A thousand Splendid Suns

Written by Elizabeth Manuge from South Ohio RR 1, NS on April 10th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 4/5

I found it hard to listen to some of this book. The life she describes is so cruel, inhumane for women. How those girls could carry on and even face death with such acceptance is hard to believe. Its very far from the life we h ave here on this continent. The book is beautifully written and somehow there is hope in everything that happens.

Author Details

Author Details

Hosseini, Khaled

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat with the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and History at a large high school in Kabul. In 1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris. They were ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then Afghanistan had already witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet army. The Hosseinis sought and were granted political asylum in the United States. In September of 1980, Hosseini's family moved to San Jose, California. Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Biology in 1988. The following year, he entered the University of California-San Diego's School of Medicine, where he earned a Medical Degree in 1993. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Hosseini was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004.

While in medical practice, Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, in March of 2001. In 2003, The Kite Runner, was published and has since become an international bestseller, published in 48 countries. In 2006 he was named a goodwill envoy to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. His second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns was published in May of 2007. Currently, A Thousand Splendid Suns is published in 25 countries. He lives in northern California.