MixedThe New York Times Sunday Book ReviewA Thousand Splendid Suns, is an ambitious work. Once again the setting is Afghanistan, but this time he has taken the last 33 years of that country’s tumultuous history of war and oppression and told it on an intimate scale, through the lives of two women … Though fascinating, the historical background — the Soviet invasion, the mujahedeen, internecine tribal warfare — isn’t always well integrated into the plot. And the transitions between Mariam’s and Laila’s perspectives can be bumpy … Hosseini succeeds in carrying readers along because he understands the power of emotion as few other popular writers do. As he did in The Kite Runner, he uses a melodramatic plot to convey vividly the many aspects of love and the ways people sacrifice themselves for those they hold dear.
