A Thousand Splendid Suns

by Khaled Hosseini
Meeting Date:  January 15, 2010
Hostess:  Natalie

Discussion:  We had a great turn out for this meeting which included two special bonuses.  First, Natalie pulled out the awesome 'margarita' maker which was super cool and the margaritas were dee-licious (the only downfall was that I could drink them almost as fast as she could make them ... and of course, I had to let some of the rest of you have some too! :-)).  And secondly, we were treated to a solo dramatic performance of the book by Stephanie!  Fantastic!
Overwhelmingly, this book was either very well-liked or even loved by everyone but me.  The group liked the story and especially the historical/political and cultural background information.  Overall, the story was well written, the characters well thought out and developed and the story was not predictable.
We talked about the strength of the women characters (although for me -- the dissenter of the group I found the women were not very strong - there were numerous instances whereby they could have done something to improve their situation and did not do it -- for example they had the opportunity to kill the man that was causing them to be oppressed and who was perpetrating violence against them, likely without any chance of getting caught - and they chose not to do so).
Most of us found that the story was likely very realistic for the women in the story and they accepted the little bits of happiness that their lives permitted, when it happened at rare moments.  Stephanie noted that the women experienced one level of sorrow which led to another.  We also talked about the contempt that women feel for men in their lives and we questioned whether any of us would have been able to accept and live in the conditions which they did.


Ratings:
Lynne ...............5.5
Natalie ..............10
Stacey ...............9
Stephanie ..........9
Dannette ..........8.5
Kellie .................9
Barb .................9.5
Overall:  8.6