Ich glaube, ich habe noch nie ein härteres Buch gelesen. Tausend strahlende Sonnen hat mich tief bewegt – und vielleicht sogar ein neues Lieblingsbuch aus mir herausgeholt. Es ist eine herzzerreißende Geschichte über Frauen, die in Afghanistan aufwachsen – inmitten von Krieg, Gewalt und gesellschaftlicher Unterdrückung. Khaled Hosseini erzählt von gebrochenen Mutter-Tochter-Beziehungen, von Hoffnung inmitten von Dunkelheit und von einer unfassbaren weiblichen Stärke. Ich liebe dieses Buch. Es hat mich nicht losgelassen – und wird es wohl nie tun.

Eine unglaublich schöne und Herz zerreissende Geschichte. Sehr angenehme Erzählerwechsel, welche dazu führen, dass die Gefühlswelt des Lesenden vollkommen wird. Wunderschöne Charaktere machen den Roman zu etwas besonderem. Vor allem kann man von diesem Buch lernen. Auf historischer sowie insbesondere auf menschlicher Ebene.

I know a lot of people criticise this book because of it’s stereotypical views and characters. But I hate to break it to you: heart-wrenching, traumatising fates like the ones of Mariam and Laila have to be told with all of the stereotypes, so people (white people) understand how the people of war, especially in the middle east, must live with it. I loved every page of this book with my whole heart. Mariam will always have a special place in my heart and Laila will always give me the power, remembering that somehow, with a lot of patience and willpower, most of my problems will be solved. What breaks my heart the most is that the Taliban did indeed return and with everything that is happening,I know that there are a lot of new Mariams, Lailas, Azizas, Tariqs, Nanas and (to my huge abhorrence) Rasheeds. I think and pray everyday, that the Taliban regime will once and for all fall and this damned war will find its democratic and peaceful ending. I also hope, that this is not wishful thinking. Read this book, but be warned, your heart will break.

Though not as popular as Khaled Hosseini's [b:The Kite Runner|77203|The Kite Runner|Khaled Hosseini|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579036753l/77203._SY75_.jpg|3295919], "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is an extremely important novel with a huge number of interesting themes which are explored in its rather short amount of pages. In this family saga and moving tale of friendship, hate and love at the same time, Hosseini abbreviates several decades of important history into a fictional story spanning more than thirty years. It's a depressing novel, consisting of a rather dark atmosphere and many chapters which will leave you gasping for breath due to the sheer amount of brutality and inhumanity some characters seem to love carrying out. What I found most intriguing in this novel was the way Hosseini managed to provide a lot of information about the history of Afghanistan, a country which has been dominated by war and destruction for such a long time. At times he came close to sounding like a nonfictional correspondent of the events with his prose, but fortunately it never felt like the author was trying to pour infodump out on his readers. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is a tough book to review, simply because it deals with so many socially relevant issues that it feels like nitpicking to talk about the writing and the characterization. It's an important book which I can only encourage everyone to read as soon as possible, considering that it offers plenty food for your thoughts and leaves you pondering about themes and questions which you may not have thought about in such detailed precision before. My biggest problem with the novel was mostly about the main characters Laila and Mariam, who - thanks to the rather detached and neutral writing style - felt very difficult to connect or relate to. I started rooting for these characters throughout the course of the novel, though that's rather obvious to say considering the fate these two women had to endure in the course of the plot. As a final note, I think this book - or Hosseini's other books in general - should receive more attention by the public. Nowadays, especially here in Germany, there is a lot of displeasure directed towards foreigners and their cultures, not necessarily people from Afghanistan, but the Middle East and Far East in general. Hosseini manages to introduces his readers who are not familiar with the cultures described in this novel to a different world, a world I personally didn't know as much about before reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" (and still wouldn't consider myself knowing a lot about). Khaled Hosseini's writing transports the important message that no matter where we come from, we are still all humans. Here in Germany and probably in many other places on our planet as well, people often tend to forget that coming from a different culture does not mean those humans are worth any less than we all are, and I think Hosseini's writing has the strength to remind more people of this fact. We are all human, and everyone deserves to be treated as such - no matter which cultural background you belong to.

When I picked up this book I was sure that I can expect an extremely great story like The Kite Runner which was one of those books that I read during one weekend! I absolutely loved it and it touched and affected me in a way only a few books did so far. This book belongs to the top 10 of my most favourite books so far! Therefore, I was so happy when I found that there was a second book written by Khaled Hosseini. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by A Thousand Splendid Suns. It was just not the same. Of course it explained a lot about Afghanistan and offers great insights into the Afghan culture like The Kite Runner but the story is rather lame in my opinion. It just did not grab my complete attention. Nevertheless, learning more about Afghanistan was really interesting. Especially during the decade in which Afghanistan was in the news so much due to the war talking place there, it is nice to see a different part of it and actually get to know the culture and the Afghan people a bit better. I think that it really helps that the author is Afghan as well. It is not the worst book I’ve ever read and I probably would have liked it more if I would not have had so high expectations due to its predecessor. For an author publishing such a book that becomes such a success story it must be hard to keep up with this success. There must have been a high pressure on Khaled in order to stay on the same level as The Kite Runner. Even though I did not like the story, I can still honestly say that Khaled Hosseini is a fantastic writer. He always finds the right words and his books are written in a beautiful way that makes them highly enjoyable. This fact improves my opinion about the book a lot and I think due to that I would always give other books written by Khaled another chance. Perhaps next time I won’t have those high expectations and can actually enjoy the book more. I really do hope that he is going to write another book. I know that there are many people out there who loved A Thousand Splendid Suns. I’ve seen it on many Top 10 lists of books that made you cry on Tuesday. Please tell me what it is that is so great of this book! Read more of my book reviews here: http://booksaroundtheworld.wordpress.com