"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."
A good story is never good until it carries universal truth, or at least a learned truth.
The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini were on my list from long. But I believe 'a time' comes for all things on the earth, for all dreams, there is a time. And finally few days ago, I picked up the later one. The war was a distant thing in my mind until I read the somber account of Afganistan War and the way the lives of two women turned upside down. Loss is as much a reality as Life and Love. After reading the story , I feel a kind of guilty and ashamed for I had enjoyed making up stories of loss and deaths in my mind. It was stupidly sadistic.
The story is undoubtedly impressive and interesting and one obvious thing that makes it so is , a gleam of Hope, that shines unflinchingly throughout the novel. Optimism is contagious. And moreover, it is today's Necessity.
The title is taken from a poem composed by Saeb-e-Tabrizi, a Seventeenth century Persian poet. The original lines are translated in English by Dr. Josephine Davis and they are so beautiful.
One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs,
Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.
A thousand splendid suns, a hope unflinching, Mariam finds peace in the eternal words of Koran , " Allah is the East and the West, therefore where ever you turn there is Allah's purpose." These words also help sustaining hope in her utterly hopeless life.How ironical, when Mariam gets pregnant she recites these words and thinks that God brought her here for He had reserved this gift for her. Only towards the end she gets to understand that the real purpose of her life and the reason why Allah brought her in Kabul, in Rashid's life, in Laila's life was something more pious and more grave. ...so seeking the purpose of our life is an innocent act of mere ignorance. Just having faith in God and his purposes is significant.
P.S. Looking forward to grab a copy of The Kite Runner.
A good story is never good until it carries universal truth, or at least a learned truth.
The story is undoubtedly impressive and interesting and one obvious thing that makes it so is , a gleam of Hope, that shines unflinchingly throughout the novel. Optimism is contagious. And moreover, it is today's Necessity.
The title is taken from a poem composed by Saeb-e-Tabrizi, a Seventeenth century Persian poet. The original lines are translated in English by Dr. Josephine Davis and they are so beautiful.
One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs,
Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.
A thousand splendid suns, a hope unflinching, Mariam finds peace in the eternal words of Koran , " Allah is the East and the West, therefore where ever you turn there is Allah's purpose." These words also help sustaining hope in her utterly hopeless life.How ironical, when Mariam gets pregnant she recites these words and thinks that God brought her here for He had reserved this gift for her. Only towards the end she gets to understand that the real purpose of her life and the reason why Allah brought her in Kabul, in Rashid's life, in Laila's life was something more pious and more grave. ...so seeking the purpose of our life is an innocent act of mere ignorance. Just having faith in God and his purposes is significant.
P.S. Looking forward to grab a copy of The Kite Runner.
this is one of mst wonderfl books i have got to read so far.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it is :)
ReplyDelete