WHAT/WHO I LOVE?

·         Myself

·         Basketball

·         Kevin Garnett

·         Paramore

·         Ryan Reynolds

·         The rain

·         Singing in the shower

·         Reading

·         Doing things I shouldn’t be doing

·         Watching horror movies

·         Java chip frappucino with extra caramel

·         Farhan Akhtar

·         The Hush sound

·         Doritos

·         India

·         Ice cream

·         Meeting new people

·         Hand accessories

·         Sleeping

·         Ice skating

·         Double chocolate chip muffins

·         Dreaming

 

WHAT/WHO I HATE?

·         False pretences

·         Mettalica

·         Mushrooms

·         Brussel sprouts

·         Perfectionists

·         Waking up

·         Snakes

·         Reports

·         Long hair

·         Papaya’s

·         Math

·         Boredom

·         Kylie minogue

·         Blazing, hot sun

·         War

·         Control freaks

·         Racists

So yesterday i got this book called " A thousand splendid suns" by Khaled Hosseini who is the author of Kiterunner as well and so naturally i was interested because kiteruner was one of my most favourite books...
And it was soo worth the half a day i spent reading it! Its probably one of the most touching, heartbreaking story i have read recently. Usually im not a fan of such novels (im mostly into romantic comedy and horror) but Khaled Hosseini is the exception. I have only read Kiterunner and A thousand splenind suns so far but i totally plan to get any other books of his as soon as possible.

So this story is set in afghanistan and the main characters this story revolves around are: Two women caled Mariam and Laila (i tottaly admire Laila's characer throughout the story) . He first talks about Mariams childhood and her life as a "harami" (illegitemate child) and later how shes married off to a man of age 40 at the age of 15 (which sounds really gay to me but wasnt so gay for her family apparently). Then he talks about Laila a girl who lives in the same neighbourhood as Mariams husband and how she loses her parents in a bomb attack and is married to Mariams husband who can i just add is a tottally brutal man. He so goes up my 10-people-who-if-i-see-will-kick-them-right-up-their-ass list, probably right below Hannah montana. So yes, Laila gets married to mariams husband as his second wife (which is perfectly natural at that period, i know wierd eh? ) and Rashed(mariam and laila's husband) is real happy now because Mariam have'nt been able to give him a baby boy which he wants and he hopes that Laila will be able to do so. But horrors horrors Laila had other motives for accepting the marriage with Rasheed. . .she was already pregnant with her childhood sweethearts baby! Oh by the way, this childhood sweetheart Tariq has only one leg but Laila loves him all the same!

So Aziza is born (Laila's daughter) and shes absolutely sweet and gorgeous but Raseed doesnt like her and he hates Laila now because Laila didnt give him a baby boy (By this point, im almost seething with anger because seriously what a sexist pig!!) But Laila loves Aziza and so does Mariam and because of Aziza, Mariam forgives Laila for stealing her husband (But seriously why would she want a husband like Rasheed in the first place beats me! ). Meanwhile Kabul, where they are living, is not under Taliban control and so there are strict, conservative islamic ules and women are entirely powerless. Women are no long allowed to go to school or work or even walk around without a mehrem (which is a male consort, in Mariam and Lailas case its Rasheed) and so people moving out of Kabul, especially because now conditions are real worse in Kabul and even Mariam and Laila tries this. Laila had been stealing money from Rasheed for a long time now and she had about enough moeny to run away and she asks Mariam to join her as well. But at the border, when they tried to seek aid from a man who they thought looked good hearted enough to help them he took their money and double crossed them (what a serious jerk!) and so Laila and Mariam end up with Rasheed again who bests them to death and lock them up without food or water for three days.

After that, Laila becomes pregnant again but this time with Rasheed's baby who turns out to be a boy. But oh my god, the conditions that she had to be operated in was so terrible that i almost cried. She didnt even have anasthesia!!! So yes, Laila has anther baby and its a boy, named Zalmai, so Rasheed is happy as well. But being the sexist bastard that he is, Rasheed is only happy with Zalmai and not anyone else. Not even Azizia. And he still continues to treat them all miserably. He doesnt even have a job by now because his shop was burnt and so he was home more, constantly in a bad mood which meant that he beat Laila and Mariam up more than usual. So, when he got more and more poorer he first tried to force Laila to make Aziza a beggar but when he figured out that Laila would rather die than do that he told her that he cant feed Aziza as well and that it would be better for her to go to an orphanage. Laila thankfully allows for this  because she felt it might be better for Aziza as well. Fortunately, the orphanage director is a nice man and he takes good care of Aziza, atleast he tries his best to because the orphanage is low on economic resources.

Now there is somethign you all must know, at the beginning some man comes to Rasheeds place just a bit after Rasheed rescued Laila and tells her that Tariq died, which is one reason she married Rasheed. Now, the plot thickens because Tariq comes back and hes ALIVE! Apparently he was never dead and Laila being smart figures out that it might have been Rasheeds man. So she talks and talks with Tariq until a little before Rasheed comes back from work and her love for him renews. But Zalmai on the other hand, becomes jelous and takes an instant disliking to Rasheed and so when Rasheed comes back he snitches about Tariq coming back. Rasheed, duh, gets angry and locks Zalmai up in a room and  beats Laila and Mariam up. But this is the last time hes going to beat them up because Mariam gets something from the shed (i cant seem to remmber what) and kills Rasheed with it (finally an end to his murderous ways). She then decides to take blame for it so that Laila can be free and live happily and so she gets sentenced to death (A heroic ending for her if i must say-i teared up a bit here).

Laila then goes on to Pakistan with Tariq and Aziza (yaay shes back with her family) and Zalmai (who still doesnt like Tariq) and they surprisingly have some trouble-free times there. But meanwhile Afghanistan is on the verge of getting independence and Laila becomes homesick. Her brothers had died fighting for her country and her mom had wanted to be in Afghanistan when it becomes free (alas she died) . So now that they all were dead, Laila felt respoinsible to be there for them so that "they could see it through her eyes" and so they left the safety of Pakistan. But first she went to Herat, which was Mariams hometown (which was nice of her, dnt you think? ) and then she went to Kabul where they lived happily ever after as a family( because by the end Zalmai has somewhat warmed upto Tariq)

*Sigh* so there you go! Thats the entire story summed up as short AS POSSIBLE! But i would seriously advice you to read the book because i havnt really mentioned the political tensions going on much which really is an important part of the story. All in all, this a good read for everyone out there and something that you just have to buy
Also, If there are any Khaled Hosseini books that you particulary liked, i would be really interested in knowing about them :))