A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

• Mariam: One of the two protagonists; has a fiery will and a strong heart that is repeatedly crushed by the men she meets.
• Laila: One of the two protagonists; Hakim and Fariba's daughter. The story is about the trials she has to face along with Mariam.
• Nana: Mariam's mother
• Mullah Faizullah: Mariam's teacher and friend. He is also respected by Nana as she was also taught by him.
• Jalil: Mariam's father. He has 3 wives and many children.
• Khadija: One of Jalil's three wives.
• Afsoon: One of Jalil's three wives
• Nargis: One of Jalil's three wives
• Hakim: Laila's father, educated and wanted his daughter to study as well.
• Fariba: Laila's mother
• Rasheed: Laila and Miriam's husband. Antagonist. Shoemaker from Kabul. He is thirty years older than Mariam.
• Tariq: Laila's childhood friend who is also the love of her life.
• Aziza: Laila's daughter, who plays vital role in bringing Laila and Mariam together
• Zalmai: Laila's son.
• Giti: Laila's childhood friend.
• Hasina: Laila's childhood friend. Who is married off at a young age and goes to Australia with her husband.
• Noor: Laila's brother, who left the house when laila was jus a little girl. She has no recollection of Noor and has just seen his photos in her her house.
• Abdul Sharif: Doorman at the Hotel Intercontinental in Kabul
• Wajma: A gossiping neighbor of Rasheed's.
• Bibi Jo: Friend of Nana who visited her in the mountains. She knew about Nana and Jalil. Mariam and mothers friend from the mountains who visited Mariam. Bibi jo was an old lady who had many sons and was always accompanied everywhere by her daughter-in-law
• Daoud Khan: King of Afghanistan after a bloodless take-over from his cousin.
• Gulbuddin Hekmatyar: A Mujihadeen leader.
• Alyona: Tariq's goat
• Salim: Add a description of this character.

Quotes edit see section history

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• “Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman.”

  Nana

• “Regret... when it comes to you, I have oceans of it.”

  Jalil

• “Women have always had it hard in this country, Laila, but they're probably more free now, under the communists, and have more rights than they've ever had before.”

  Babi

• “Tell your secrets to the wind but don't blame it for telling the trees.”

  Laila

• “A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated...”

• “To me, it's nonsense - and very dangerous nonsense at that - all this talk of I'm Tajik and you're Pashtun and he's Hazara and she's Uzbek. We're all Afghans, and that's all that should matter.”

  Babi/Hakim

• “<Miriam>...A woman who will be like a rock in a riverbed, enduring without complaint, her grace not sullied but shaped by the turbulence that washes over her. Already Laila sees something behind this <Miriam's> young girl's eyes, something deep in her core, that neither Rasheed nor the Taliban will be able to break. Something as hard and unyielding as a block of limestone. Something that, in the end, will be her undoing and Laila's salvation.”

• “I will follow you to the ends of the world.”

  Tariq

• ““Nor was she old enough to appreciate the injustice, to see that it is the creators of the harami who are culpable, not the harami, whose only sin is being born.””

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• “One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.”

  Highlighted by 389 Kindle customers

• Boys, Laila came to see, treated friendship the way they treated the sun: its existence undisputed; its radiance best enjoyed, not beheld directly.

  Highlighted by 302 Kindle customers

• Because a society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated, Laila. No chance.

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• A woman who will be like a rock in a riverbed, enduring without complaint, her grace not sullied but shaped by the turbulence that washes over her.

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• Nana said, “Learn this now and learn it well, my daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam.”

  Highlighted by 247 Kindle customers

• “Tell your secret to the wind, but don’t blame it for telling the trees.”

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• But, mostly, Mariam is in Laila’s own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.

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• She thought of Aziza’s stutter, and of what Aziza had said earlier about fractures and powerful collisions deep down and how sometimes all we see on the surface is a slight tremor.

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• One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.

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• harami. It happened on a Thursday. It must have, because Mariam remembered that she had been restless and preoccupied that day, the way she was only on Thursdays, the day when Jalil visited her at the kolba.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

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• Kabul: Capital city of Afganistan
• the kolba: Where Mariam lives with Nana. It's basically a hut. It's outside Herat.
• Herat: The town where Mariam's father, Jalil, lives with his wives and other children.
• Karteh-Seh: An orphanage in Kabul.
• Walayat: A women's prison.
• Murree: A town.

First Sentence edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Kolba: A Hut or very simple home
• harami: A child born out of wedlock; a bastard
• tahamul: to endure
• jinn: a demon which possesses the body
• nikka: wedding
• tabreek: congratulations
• tandoor: a special oven for baking bread; often a communal oven
• hamshira: a term used to address a female; sister
• salaam: a greeting; peace
• chup ko: shut up
• inqilabi: revolutionary
• badmash: hooligan, bad person
• aush: a soup made with noodles and different vegetables in a tomatoe based broth
• dokhtar: girl
• fatiha: the central prayer of Islam, used on all special occasions
• namaz: prayer; 5 prayers said daily in Islam
• shaheed: holy martyrs
• rafiq: a friend
• sofrah: a spread of items laid out on the floor for eating
• fatiha: can also mean funeral; prayers said after one has died

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Redemption: Describe this theme.
• Shame
• Loyalty
• Discrimination against Women
• Islam

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by No Logo, and followed by The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Preceded by The Catcher in the Rye, and followed by Pride and Prejudice.

Preceded by The Hunger Games, and followed by Memoirs of a Geisha.

Preceded by Pride and Prejudice, and followed by Memoirs of a Geisha.

Preceded by The Lovely Bones, and followed by The Giver.

Followed by Playing for Pizza.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Khaled Hosseini (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Josephine Barry Davis
2. Amanda Dewey (Designer) - Book Design
3. Honi Werner (Designer) - Jacket Design
4. Andrew Testa (Photographer) - Jacket Photo
5. John Dolan (Photographer) - Author Photo
6. Josephine Barry Davis (Translator) - The Poem__"Kabul".

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Abraham Lincoln Award (Finalist, 2011)
• British Book Award (2008: Richard and Judy Best Read of the Year)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3608.O832K58
• Dewey: 813.6

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Violence and adult themes.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › United States › Asian American
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › Middle Eastern

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history