|  |
| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Something was off Nov 16, 2009
I am never one to complain about anything at all, ever. But in all honesty, the book was NOT as described. I believe when I reviewed the listing for the book, it was described as 'in very good' condition. I was expecting the book to have been read, to have maybe a few creases in the spine, maybe the corners upturned a bit, but to be otherwise fine. This book was in terrible condition. There is no way that it could be described as 'very good condition'. It looked like it came from a library, like hundreds of people have read it before it came to me. The front of the book had been bent in places, ALL of the corners of the front and back cover were bent (if they existed at all), there were many many creases in the spine and it appears that numerous liquids have been spilled throughout the paged. The front conver was even ripid in a couple of places, and all the pages were in a permanant position as if someone had thumbed through them relentlessly top and bottom. I was very displeased because the item was described as having been in 'very good' condition, when the poster probably shouold have listed it as 'hey, it's legible'. I hate to complain and am usually very happy with the items that I reveive, but I feel that the seller completely misprepresented the condition of the book. I am farily certain that my book spent years in a public library before it came to me. I was very disappointed. I usually like to give second chances but I doubt that i will ever buy a thing from this seller again, unles they learn to sell books as described. I would have happily paid the same prive for a book that was in poor condition. I was a great book and I loved it, but I just feel as though I were lied to a little bit. Sorry ro be rude. I enjoyed the book thoroughly anyway, so ultimately it was worth what I paid. I just wish that the seller would have been a but more honest with me, because believe me, there is no way that anyone could bpssibly construe this book I received as 'in very good condition. Sorry but I don't think that I will return to this seller in the future, although I am sure that this was a mistake and doesn't happen too often. Also the length of time it took to get here seemed excessive to me, I believe I was waiting for it for a week and a half, and that it was not shipped out within two business days. But perhaps that is my fault for chosing standard shipping. Thank you for your tine. I am sure that the seller is generally competent and reliable, so don't base your decisions on what I have said if you are considering from tihs seller.
Thank you for your time, and once again I am sorry for the complaint or if I offended anyone. I just hope that maybe better attention should be given to the condition of the books and the way that you portray them before they go out. Maky sure if someone ordered a book in very good condition that it IS in good, or at least decent condition- not one that has been thumbed through a million times by a million different people.
 Quickly becoming a part of the educated psyche's book list Nov 14, 2009
Hosseini's second book, while a depressing depiction of women's rights in Afghanastan, is beautifully written. Laila and Mariam are dynamically weaved. He somehow makes something that should not be relate-able to most very digestible and emotional. There are twists and turns that keep the reader engaged. For someone who knows nothing of the culture or region, Hosseini - despite his admitted liberties with the geography - has introduced the area.
Despite it's rather morose ending, there is a call to action and hopefulness. He leaves the reader to consider solutions to what seems like a situation that should not exist. This ability to inspire the reader despite depicting rather dire circumstances is what makes this book a strong candidate to be on modern reading lists. It is quickly becoming a book that educated people read. That said it's not so high brow that everyone can't appreciate it.
Spontaneous outpourings of an Afghan heart Nov 09, 2009
Splendid Indeed! I would like to use all those hackneyed expressions about Hosseini which usually appear on the cover page of a bookseller. Excellent! Suspenseful! Unforgettable! Gripping! Heartbreaking! I would be honest in using all of them and still it wouldn't be enough! Yes! Hosseini is that good!
Since, The Da Vinci Code and the Harry Potter series I haven't read a more gripping book. A Thousand Splendid Suns has everything you may want in a book. I won't go into the details of the story. It tells stories of two Afghan women and the traumas they have to bear under the Islamic regime of the Taliban.
Hosseini is indeed a master storyteller and you get hooked to it. He is so intensely graphic that you see every little movement described in the book, and listen to every wind rustling; every sigh falling.
He moves our deepest emotions and we get carried. We laugh with the characters; we feel their pain; we look at Afghanistan the way Afghans do.
The narrative is very authentic. Hosseini knows about the place he is talking about. He knows his Afghanistan, very unlike the Booker winner Adiga, who knows next to nothing about India. He is also clear about his content and has no tolerance for Islamic fundamentalism. A Thousand Splendid Suns is also not politically motivated like, A Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.
The havoc Taliban brought upon Afghanistan is vividly portrayed. He does not ignore its tragedy for the sake of being politically correct. The inhumanity of Taliban and all its supporters, the barbarity of Islamic fundamentalism and the brunt women have to bear under Islam is truthfully portrayed.
He does not forget to pay a tribute to the destroyed statues of Bamiyan. He does not express joy over 9/11, like Hamid does in A Reluctant Fundamentalist. He does not shun the truth.
His style is pleasantly accessible and familiar. He suffers from no -ism and nothing of post-modern claptrap enters into Hosseini's narrative. If the First World War jilted European psyche, making their poets and writers confused, the Afghanistan War has made Hosseini even more definite in his narrative, clearer in his vision. Some call him, an `old fashioned writer'. I love him for it. He is a little melodramatic and uses some standard attention engaging techniques of novelists and thriller writers, something which may throw him out of the mainstream of standard literature, but looking at the crap `mainstream' literature is producing these days, it is better not to be included in it.
Not since reading Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert Massie, have I wept over a book. Russia and England were two places which had become alive in my imagination through literature. I now add Afghanistan to that list.
An Unexpected Read Nov 05, 2009
I recently had to read this novel for a Book Club in a graduate level reading class I am taking. This novel was not my first choice on the list, but I am so grateful that I had a chance to read it.
The story - not real, but as close to it as possible - takes the reader into the lives of Mariam and Laila and shows the ties they create as they deal with love, loss, domestic violence, and the unfortunate circumstances for women in Afghanistan. The themes of sacrifice and friendship are present throughout the entire novel, especially during the most shocking of scenes. This novel touched me very deeply as it opened my eyes to what life for women is like in other countries and cultures. There were times during the novel where I became so angry that I threw it across my room and did not read it for a day or so. There were times when I cried because I was so moved by the struggles the women encountered. I cannot think of another novel that I have read in the last decade that has caused me to have such genuine responses.
As mentioned, I am so grateful that I had to read this book and meet with others to discuss it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone - I think there is something in it that everyone can relate to in some way, shape, or form. Kudos to the author, and thank you.
 A Thousand Splendid Suns Nov 01, 2009
Great read, a real eye opener! Makes you thankful to be a woman in America.
|
| | |
