A Thousand Splendid Suns

It seems to be a busy time at the moment with frequent bookgroup meetings, made all the more so because I am two different groups.

Last week we discussed Khaled Hosseini's latest book - A thousand splendid suns. It was mostly about two Afghan women and their families, who ended up both being the wife of the same man. Although enemies to begin with, one ended up giving her life for the other and her child. It is set against Afghanistan's turbulent past of the last 30 or so years and how that has impacted on women in that country.

Having recently also read Kite Runner, his first book, I did prefer Kite Runner possibly because it had more of a story and more "action". I also found the middle section of A thousand splendid suns to be quite slow and just a continual parade of violence against the women. However it did clearly portray many of the problems women faced and still face in this country. On one occasion the two women tried to escape by catching a bus out of Kabul, but of course you had to have a man accompanying you. So they asked to join a man and his family for the bus trip, paying him for the assistance but as they went to get on the bus he told the police. So instead of getting away they ended up in a police station before returning to a more ugly home situation. The book also highlighted the problems women faced to go out, having to be fully covered, not being able to go to school and gain an education and the problems of multiple wives.

Much of this related to life in Morocco, especially since a number of members are married to Moroccans who came from families with multiple wives. It was interesting to hear though that in these situations the wives didn't get on with each other, which was similar to what the book portrayed initially. The long-term Moroccan residents also agreed that here in Morocco, the women have been covering up more and more over the last few years. Not because it is enforced, generally not as a politically expression but more as an expression of their faith, their life and individualism. It is common to see a group of girls walking done the street, some with scarves on and some without. Some people felt that in some workplaces there is presently pressure put on workers to dress more traditionally, more conservatively by at least wearing a headscarf if not the hijab. Interesting thoughts!

There was also much discussion about the life of women in Morocco compared to the life of the women portrayed in the book. Here it was felt that out in the country life was probably similar with women expected to do all the cooking, cleaning, looking after the children plus here they tend to the crops as well. However in the towns life is changing with more women working outside the home but are things really changing? Will they change? Will the men let things change? Most educated men now only have one wife so that is a change already.

We all thought this book would also make a good film. I look forward to seeing the film of Kite Runner as a friend saw it soon after reading the book and said it stuck quite well to the story in the book. It may be in the medina already but I haven't been there recently to see.