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A stirring read almost impossible to resist.Entertainment weekly

Remarkable-Time Bewitching- San Francisco Chronicle

Overwhelmingly PowerfulThe Charlotte Observer

Uplifting, Enlightening, Universal- Fort Worth Star-Telegram

A brave, honorable, big-hearted book.- The Washington Post

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Characters:

Mariam,an ethnic Tajikborn in Herat, 1959. She is the illegitimate childof Jalil and Nana, and suffers shame throughout her childhood becauseof the circumstances of her birth.

Nanais Mariam's mother, who used to be a servant in Jalil's house andhad an affair with him. She hangs herself when Mariam is fifteen, afterMariam journeys to Jalil's house on her birthday, which Nana perceives tobe betrayal.

Mullah Faizullah, a Sufi, is Mariam's elderly Koran teacher and friend.He dies of natural causes in 1989.

Jalilis Mariam's father, a wealthy man who had three wives before hehad an affair with Nana. He marries Mariam to Rasheed after Nana'sdeath, but later regrets sending her away. He dies in 1987

Lailais an ethnic Tajik. Born in 1978 to Hakim and Fariba, she is abeautiful and intelligent girl coming from a family in which the father isuniversity-educated and a teacher. Her life becomes tied to Mariam'swhen she marries Rasheed as his second wife.

Hakimis Laila's father. He is a well-educated and progressive schoolteacher. He is killed in a rocket explosion along with Fariba.

Faribais Laila's mother. In Part One, during her brief meeting withMariam, she is shown as cheerful, but her happy nature is brutallydisrupted when her two sons, Ahmad and Noor, leave home to go to warand are later killed. She spends nearly all of her time in bed mourning hersons until the Mujahideen are victorious. She is killed in a rocketexplosion along with Hakim.

Rasheedis an ethnic Pashtun, a shoemaker, and the antagonist of thenovel. He marries Mariam through an arrangement with Jalil and latermarries Laila as well. After years ofdomestic abuse towards the two

women, Mariam bludgeons Rasheed to death with a shovel during aviolent struggle.

Tariq,an ethnic Pashtun born in 1976, is a boy who grew up in Kabulwith Laila. He lost a leg to a land mine at age 5. They eventually evolvefrom best friends to lovers and, after a decade of separation, are marriedand expecting a child by the end of the novel.

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Azizais the daughter of Laila and Tariq, conceived when Laila was 14.Her conception incites Laila to marry Rasheed when the news of Tariq'salleged death arrives in order to be avoid rocket fire, prostitution, orstarvation and to hide the child's illegitimacy. Aziza is born in the springof 1993 and becomes a peacemaking figure between Mariam and Lailawhen her cries for Mariam's attention trigger Mariam's maternal instinctand respect for Laila.

Zalmai,born in September 1997, is Laila and Rasheed's spoiled son.Despite the conditions presented onto his mother and figurative aunt(Mariam), Zalmai idolizes Rasheed and is unaware of the fact that Mariamkilled him. At the end of the novel, Zalmai continuously asks aboutRasheed to Laila, who lies to him saying he simply left for some time.After initially blaming Tariq for his father's mysterious disappearance, hecomes to accept Tariq as a father-figure.

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Plot:The tale is divided into four parts. The first part focuses

exclusively on Mariam, the second and fourth parts focus on Laila,and the third part switches focus between Mariam and Laila witheach chapter.

Mariam lives in a kolba on the outskirts of Herat with hermother. Jalil, her father, is a wealthy man who lives in town withthree wives and several children. Mariam is his illegitimatedaughter, she cannot live with them, but Jalil visits her everyThursday. On her fifteenth birthday, Mariam wants her father to

take her to see Pinocchio at his movie theater. When he does notshow up, she hikes into town and goes to his abode. He declines tosee her, and she ends up sleeping on the front porch. In themorning, Mariam returns home to find that her mother has hangedherself out of fear that her daughter has deserted her. Mariam isthen taken to live in her father's house. Jalil arranges for her to bemarried to Rasheed, a shoemaker from Kabul who is thirty yearsher senior. In Kabul, Mariam becomes pregnant seven successivetimes, but is never able to carry a child to term, and Rasheed

gradually becomes more abusive and tempered as everything turnsto a failure.

In the same neighborhood live a girl named Laila and a boynamed Tariq, who are close friends, but careful of socialboundaries. War comes to Afghanistan, and Kabul is bombarded byrocket attacks. Tariq's family decides to leave the city, and theemotional farewell between Laila and Tariq ends with them makinglove on the couch. Laila's family also decides to leave Kabul, but asthey are packing a rocket destroys the house, kills her parents, andseverely injures Laila. Laila is taken in by Rasheed and Mariam.

After recovering from her injuries, Laila discovers that she ispregnant with Tariq's child. After being told that Tariq is dead, sheagrees to marry Rasheed, who is eager to have a young andattractive second wife, and hopes to have a child with her. When

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Laila gives birth to a daughter, Aziza, Rasheed is displeased andsuspicious, for the want of a son. He soon becomes abusive towardLaila. Mariam and Laila eventually become confidantes and bestassociates. They plan to run away from Rasheed and leave Kabul,

but they are caught at the bus station. Rasheed beats them anddeprives them of water for several days, almost killing Aziza , Lailasdaughter.

A few years later, Laila gives birth to Zalmai, Rasheed's son.TheTaliban has risen to power, and there is a drought, and livingconditions in Kabul become poor. Rasheed's workshop burns down,and he is forced to take jobs he is ill-suited for. Rasheed sendsAziza to an orphanage. Then one day, Tariq appears outside thehouse. He and Laila are reunited, and their passions flare anew.

When Rasheed returns home from work, Zalmai tells his fatherabout the visitor. Rasheed starts to savagely beat Laila. To save herfriend, Mariam kills Rasheed with a shovel by hitting it hard on hishead. Afterwards, Mariam confesses to killing Rasheed, in order todraw attention away from Laila and Tariq, and is executed, whileLaila and Tariq leave for Pakistan with Aziza and Zalmai.

After the fall of the Taliban, Laila and Tariq return toAfghanistan. They stop in the village where Mariam was raised, and

discover a package that Mariam's father left behind for her: avideotape of Pinocchio, a small pile of money and a letter. Lailareads the letter and discovers that Jalil regretted sending Mariamaway. Laila and Tariq return to Kabul and fix up the orphanage,where Laila starts working as a teacher. Laila is pregnant with herthird child, and if it is a girl, it is suggested she will be namedMariam.

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Setting:The setting of the story leads us to the Middle East, specifically

in the land of Afghanistan. In the novel, there is an ongoing war betweenthe Taliban against the Afghan army. With this crisis, many men are put totest. Millions are forced to leave home, loved ones dying before their veryeyes, children- lost and put to labor. Education is then very hard to attain.

Women were not allowed to leave their homes to take care of theiroffspring. Through this battle of guns and spears, the heart of the nation istorn and scarred.

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Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-born American novelist andphysician. He has lived in the United States since he was fifteen years oldand is an American citizen. His 2003 debut novel, The Kite Runner, was aninternational bestseller, selling more than 12 million copies worldwide. Hissecond, A Thousand Splendid Suns, was released on May 22, 2007. In2008, the book was the bestselling novel in the UK (as of April 11, 2008),

with more than 700,000 copies sold.

When Khaled Hosseini was a child, he read a great deal of Persianpoetry as well as Persian translations of novels ranging from Alice in

Wonderland to Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer series. Hosseini's "veryfond memories of his childhood" in peaceful pre-Soviet era Afghanistan, as

well as his personal experiences with Afghanistan's Hazara people led to thewriting of his first novel, The Kite Runner. One Hazara man, named

Hossein Khan, worked for the Hosseini when they were living in Iran.When Khaled Hosseini was in third grade, he taught Khan to read andwrite. Although his relationship with Hossein Khan was brief and ratherformal, Hosseini's fond memories of this relationship served as aninspiration for the relationship between Hassan and Amir in The KiteRunner.

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Conflicts:The conflict in the story tracks down to many scenarios.

But the most highlighted conflict happens in the 3rd part of the tale.This clash happened in the residence of Rasheed. Laila and Mariamhave been caught and guilty of escaping from home due to theirhusbands cruelty. Rasheed targets on his second wife, Laila, to betortured. But to prevent her associate and only friend to be at pain,Mariam swiftly grabbed a shovel and continued to hit Rasheed harduntil he moved no more, Laila helped too. Right after, Mariam inorder to save Laila, surrendered herself to the police and convincedthem that Laila had nothing to do with this crime for them to be

reunited with Tariq and escape the Afghan territory. Mariam wassubjected to be exiled.

Resolution:As what have Mariam Jo told Laila to do, she and Tariq

left the place to start their life all over. Without Mariam, it wasTariq, Laila, Zalmai, Aziza and yet another baby in Lailas womb.The last scene in the story is her family, finally at peace. Zalmaiwonders where his father has gone, but finally took in Tariq as hisfather. Laila becomes a teacher, when her baby is born and is agirl, she promises to name her Mariam.

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Theme:

There is always light atthe end of a dark tunnel.

The tale started with a shed of tears, but it ended in hope.

Its true when they say life is a hell-hole, but at times it can bea bliss. Life is a series of victories and defeats. We will never know

the paradox of the future, but we can make it out of our presentagendas. So, it really isnt about destiny, but instead of what wemake out of life.