Gripping Afghanistan

“…But the name game involves only male names. Because, if it’s a girl, Laila has already named her.” Don’t curse me for giving away the very last sentence of “A Thousand Splendid Suns” but trust me; you won’t be able to gauge the significance of the phrase without reading the book.

There were a couple of reasons that made me pick up the book at Crosswords. Primarily, it was the hype created around it and my colleague went out of his way to recommend it (thanks Venkat!). And the second reason is of course, after Kite Runner I knew that I can rely on Khaled Hosseini when it comes to pulling through a sensitive issue.

Well, I was also a bit wary of the topic since there has been an overdose of Afghanistan in my reading list – parts of Shantaram, Kite Runner and then parts of Age of Kali. And it’s always so much pain, torture and bloodshed involved; I grew kind of immune to it by the end of this 4th read.

I am sure everyone has tried watching the movie remakes of books they loved and there are tons of them in the industry! Only thing is there are very few script writers who can live up to the essence of the books. City of Joy was a complete disaster, Kite Runner was half in Afghani, and Da Vinci Code was tangential.

The point is I DO NOT intend to watch when Shantaram is released and if A Thousand Splendid Suns is made into a motion picture. Blood has always been my weak link. I can see thrillers which are without hints of bloodshed, like Jackie Chan flicks and sci-fi action like Transformers.

To come back to the book I started talking about, it involves the lives of two women who were poles apart, and pulled and bound together with all-pervading ‘love’. The amazing intertwining of the ups and, more frequently, downs in the lives of the duo are beautifully carved by Hosseini. It does start off slow, with almost the 1st couple of hundred pages dedicated to building the foundation of the story, but the way it picks up pace after a point is so gripping that it can challenge a thriller-fiction writer.

There were a couple of issues which I feel were unanswered. One – Rasheed’s surprised look out of the window when he married Mariam and took her to Kabul and second – Tariq’s headaches towards the end. I won’t speak further, read for yourself.

The 400 odd pages also left me pondering on the chaotic lives of the Afghanis. Raids after more raids; the incessant plundering and invasions by Soviets and U.S., Mujahedins and of course the Talibans. The number of deaths, loss of property, destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas; reading about them is so unnerving; I can’t even dare to imagine the reality which swept over the country in the last three decades.

And worst, the treatment meted out to the women – the beatings by husbands, the lack of hospitals, deprivation of education and right to hold office, and complete lack of freedom. Phew…!!!

The thoughts are getting a bit too depressing so I’ll move on. The wondrous part of the book was that the very last paragraph was a tear-jerker. Throughout the book, however much tremulous situations became, it’s really amazing Hosseini could actually reach the nadir in the very end. To hold on to the last straws of hope and dream of living a better life, without discarding one’s responsibilities – a very out-of-the-world feeling!

After these mind-rattling books, I am planning to move on to fiction now; a Stephen King is in queue. Hope to shrug off the disturbing thoughts about worldly sorrows for a while.