Khalid Housseini, zindabad which literally translates to Long Live Khalid Housseini!!!!
When I first saw the book, I was aprehensive. Ok, so the first book was excellent, beyond words. But what if he's a one book author? I did buy the book ultimately, after reading the gist of what its about on it's back cover. Sounded interesting....
The first few pages were good but it was almost as if I was waiting for a blunder or a bummer by him.....but no I was disappointed. Or lets say it was a win-win situation.
Right now? Its just been two days since I read it, I'm bowled over....still in the euphoria of the book - A thousand splendid suns
It's as if I can still see Mariam in her kolba waiting for Jalil, hearing her mother's taunts. Listening to her whinings everyday about how bad men are for taking advantage of women and how equally worse women are for tolerating this treatment....I heard Nana (Mariam's mother) call her a harami and felt her bewilderment....An illegitimate, unwanted child....a burden for her mother....But what was Mariam's fault? What did she do except live? A few hours of pleasure perhaps for Jalil and her mother.....and so Mariam....nothing for her...even Nana could nostalgically remember those moments when she thought that Jalil was hers...she had good times to remember - if you could call a few hours of romping in the sheets that.....but what about Mariam? what did she have except nana's ranting day in and day out? Of course she had Jalil....his weekly visits....when he would spend time only with her....when he would bring her trinkets to cherish, swing her in his arms till she tires.....the one moment when Mariam did not have to remember that she was not living in his huge bungalow with his other ten children....the one moment when she would forget that she was not invited into that house but had to stay with her mother in a lowly hut away from prying eyes….she would not remember how Jalil did not agree to take her to his cinema to watch cartoons..........he was her only contact to the outside world....
But Nana she never allowed her to forget how weak Jalil actually was.....how she - Nana, had to stay in a hut but not with his three other wives.......
The day Mariam turned fifteen, the glass house inside which she had placed Jalil, broke. He denied her. He abandoned her outside his bungalow, refused to recognize her as his daughter and let her spend the night on the streets….She returned back to find her Nana hanging from a noose tied to the tree near their kolba….she never forgot and she never forgave……
Jalil turned out to be a weakling as Nana had predicted. After her mother’s death, Mariam was married off to a cobbler in Kabul – Rasheed…..her was almost thirty years older than her….but so what…she’s a woman…she has to endure……Mariam left for Kabul…and stated to Jalil…never to contact her…ever
Rasheed at first seemed to be an understanding person to the reader……but I guess good or bad things come later……to call Rasheed a human being itself is an insult to the definition of a civilized being…then what is he….an animal……I don’t want to offend animals……I did try to pity Rasheed……his first wife was dead…and so was his only son……so he was wounded……isolated…..BUT……no I couldn’t……
I don’t have words to express my dislike and distaste of such a heinous being……not just for how he treated Mariam but also for his future actions to come……I don’t detest Rasheed just for his physical abuse to Mariam…not even the sexual harassment he made her go through……but for the mental torture……for making her believe that she was actually unworthy to be born……a burden to everyone she met……
Laila……technically she was a neighbor to Mariam……but she was a stranger to her just as I would be one to her……a loving and understanding father in Baba……a mother – Fariba, who had time only to lament for her sons who were at war against the Russians & no time for her daughter who starved for her affection……a friend…no more than a friend……a soul mate perhaps……in the form of Tariq……her world was set……she had a doting dad and she was in love with her best friend……what worse could happen? It could……Kabul was at war……her parents destroyed in the massacre……Tariq gone indefinitely to Peshawar and she was left alone with the mark of her love for Tariq in her womb……
Laila was saved……by Rasheed and Mariam……the reader would first think that it was her good luck……but no……she’s just fifteen but she has to face that since she is with child she has to marry Rasheed…a guy who’s almost sixty now……I tried warning Laila about Rasheed’s scheme of thwarting any hope in her that Tariq will return by sending a harbinger in the form of Abdul that he witnessed Tariq’s death…..
Faced with the inevitable……she resigns her fate to Rasheed……bears him two children – Aziza and Zalmai……one born out of love of two and the other born out of lust of one……
Both Mariam & Laila become soul sisters……united against one evil…Rasheed…they bore marks of physical and mental abuse from him……when finally Mariam ends it all……to say she murdered Rasheed brutally would be as if to say she committed a sin……I would rather glorify it to be a good deed which saved everyone a lot of anguish and pain……even when the Talib judge who sentenced death to Mariam says that it’s because her deed scares him that she is capable of doing something so violent, I screamed in protest……she who couldn’t hurt an ant can only be pushed to such extremes by someone as atrocious as Rasheed……
Laila atleast sees light at the end of the tunnel……she joins her Tariq with her children and they live first in Peshawar and then return to Kabul when times are better with the Taliban driven away from Afghanistan……she returns not just to serve her country with her education……not just to return to her childhood spots……but to witness free Kabul……so that Mariam, Baba and Fariba and her brothers can witness it through her eyes……
If The Kite Runner is about how children suffered in Kabul, A thousand splendid sons is how women suffered……women endure………
Taliban not only destroyed Kabul but also destroyed the spirit of women……and when they did this, they should have seen their defeat clearly……since what is there if the womb which brought you to this world does not have the will to continue?
When I first saw the book, I was aprehensive. Ok, so the first book was excellent, beyond words. But what if he's a one book author? I did buy the book ultimately, after reading the gist of what its about on it's back cover. Sounded interesting....
The first few pages were good but it was almost as if I was waiting for a blunder or a bummer by him.....but no I was disappointed. Or lets say it was a win-win situation.
Right now? Its just been two days since I read it, I'm bowled over....still in the euphoria of the book - A thousand splendid suns
It's as if I can still see Mariam in her kolba waiting for Jalil, hearing her mother's taunts. Listening to her whinings everyday about how bad men are for taking advantage of women and how equally worse women are for tolerating this treatment....I heard Nana (Mariam's mother) call her a harami and felt her bewilderment....An illegitimate, unwanted child....a burden for her mother....But what was Mariam's fault? What did she do except live? A few hours of pleasure perhaps for Jalil and her mother.....and so Mariam....nothing for her...even Nana could nostalgically remember those moments when she thought that Jalil was hers...she had good times to remember - if you could call a few hours of romping in the sheets that.....but what about Mariam? what did she have except nana's ranting day in and day out? Of course she had Jalil....his weekly visits....when he would spend time only with her....when he would bring her trinkets to cherish, swing her in his arms till she tires.....the one moment when Mariam did not have to remember that she was not living in his huge bungalow with his other ten children....the one moment when she would forget that she was not invited into that house but had to stay with her mother in a lowly hut away from prying eyes….she would not remember how Jalil did not agree to take her to his cinema to watch cartoons..........he was her only contact to the outside world....
But Nana she never allowed her to forget how weak Jalil actually was.....how she - Nana, had to stay in a hut but not with his three other wives.......
The day Mariam turned fifteen, the glass house inside which she had placed Jalil, broke. He denied her. He abandoned her outside his bungalow, refused to recognize her as his daughter and let her spend the night on the streets….She returned back to find her Nana hanging from a noose tied to the tree near their kolba….she never forgot and she never forgave……
Jalil turned out to be a weakling as Nana had predicted. After her mother’s death, Mariam was married off to a cobbler in Kabul – Rasheed…..her was almost thirty years older than her….but so what…she’s a woman…she has to endure……Mariam left for Kabul…and stated to Jalil…never to contact her…ever
Rasheed at first seemed to be an understanding person to the reader……but I guess good or bad things come later……to call Rasheed a human being itself is an insult to the definition of a civilized being…then what is he….an animal……I don’t want to offend animals……I did try to pity Rasheed……his first wife was dead…and so was his only son……so he was wounded……isolated…..BUT……no I couldn’t……
I don’t have words to express my dislike and distaste of such a heinous being……not just for how he treated Mariam but also for his future actions to come……I don’t detest Rasheed just for his physical abuse to Mariam…not even the sexual harassment he made her go through……but for the mental torture……for making her believe that she was actually unworthy to be born……a burden to everyone she met……
Laila……technically she was a neighbor to Mariam……but she was a stranger to her just as I would be one to her……a loving and understanding father in Baba……a mother – Fariba, who had time only to lament for her sons who were at war against the Russians & no time for her daughter who starved for her affection……a friend…no more than a friend……a soul mate perhaps……in the form of Tariq……her world was set……she had a doting dad and she was in love with her best friend……what worse could happen? It could……Kabul was at war……her parents destroyed in the massacre……Tariq gone indefinitely to Peshawar and she was left alone with the mark of her love for Tariq in her womb……
Laila was saved……by Rasheed and Mariam……the reader would first think that it was her good luck……but no……she’s just fifteen but she has to face that since she is with child she has to marry Rasheed…a guy who’s almost sixty now……I tried warning Laila about Rasheed’s scheme of thwarting any hope in her that Tariq will return by sending a harbinger in the form of Abdul that he witnessed Tariq’s death…..
Faced with the inevitable……she resigns her fate to Rasheed……bears him two children – Aziza and Zalmai……one born out of love of two and the other born out of lust of one……
Both Mariam & Laila become soul sisters……united against one evil…Rasheed…they bore marks of physical and mental abuse from him……when finally Mariam ends it all……to say she murdered Rasheed brutally would be as if to say she committed a sin……I would rather glorify it to be a good deed which saved everyone a lot of anguish and pain……even when the Talib judge who sentenced death to Mariam says that it’s because her deed scares him that she is capable of doing something so violent, I screamed in protest……she who couldn’t hurt an ant can only be pushed to such extremes by someone as atrocious as Rasheed……
Laila atleast sees light at the end of the tunnel……she joins her Tariq with her children and they live first in Peshawar and then return to Kabul when times are better with the Taliban driven away from Afghanistan……she returns not just to serve her country with her education……not just to return to her childhood spots……but to witness free Kabul……so that Mariam, Baba and Fariba and her brothers can witness it through her eyes……
If The Kite Runner is about how children suffered in Kabul, A thousand splendid sons is how women suffered……women endure………
Taliban not only destroyed Kabul but also destroyed the spirit of women……and when they did this, they should have seen their defeat clearly……since what is there if the womb which brought you to this world does not have the will to continue?
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