BOOK REVIEW: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF KHALED HOSSEINI’S ‘KITE RUNNER’ AND ‘THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS’ .

SUMMARY: The ‘Kite Runner’ and ‘Thousand Splendid Suns’ are two books written by the same author, Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan-American medical doctor and novelist. Both books are critical examinations of not only Afghan society and its political history but also Islam as a culture and the questions it raises about freedom, the rights of women and minorities. The history and geography of Afghanistan; its people, landscape, literature, politics, and culture are the main threads of Hosseini’s writings. The ‘Kite Runner’ opens with a phone conversation between Amir (now living in California) and Rahim Khan, his father’s friend and business partner (now living in Pakistan). Most of the rest of the book is a flashback on Amir’s life with his father (Baba) in Kabul until their relocation to California following the Russian invasion. The last part of the book dealt with Amir and Baba’s life in the United States and Amir’s dangerous trip to Afghanistan during the reign of the Taliban to rescue Hassan’s son Zohrab from the orphanage which brought him face-to-face with Assef, a Taliban executioner and child molester. Amir and his Baba fled their luxurious life in Afghanistan for the United States in 1981 through Pakistan. In the United States, they lived a life of poverty in California and Baba’s health was gradually failing. He finally died of terminal cancer the year Amir graduated from high school and married Soraya, General Iqbal’s daughter. Soraya, who once ran away with a man, was considered unmarriageable until she met Amir with guilt of his own from the past. The ‘Kite Runner’ is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the rule of the Shah, and the Soviet invasion in the late 1980s. ‘Thousand Splendid Suns’ however is in four parts: the Soviet occupation, the Mujahedeen uprising, Taliban rule, and the United States invasion following September 11, 2001. The book is set in Afghanistan (Kabul) and Pakistan. It followed the life of Mirriam from the kolba outside the town of Herat near the border with Iran were she was banished with her mother, through her attempted return to her father, and her subsequent forced marriage to Rasheed in Kabul. Mirriam’s life was filled with tragedy and ended in her execution by the Taliban after she killed her husband in an apparent self defense. She sacrificed her life to save Laila who reunited with Tariq (her childhood sweetheart) after a long separation during the Mujahideen wars. MAIN CHARACTERS The main characters in the ‘Kite Runner’ are Hassan and Amir, but the title of the book is an actual reference to Hassan’s kite running skills. ‘Thousand Splendid Suns’ on the other hand is a reference to a poem about Kabul by the 17th century Persian poet, Saeb Tabrizi. The main characters in ‘Thousand Splendid Suns’ are perhaps Miriam and Laila (co-wives of Rasheed). Like Hassan and Amir, the contrasting backgrounds of Miriam and Laila and their subsequent complicated relationship of love, loyalty and sacrifice reveals the intricate web of hypocrisy and double standard in Afghan society and culture. KEY POINTS: 1. Both books are also equally about parent/child relations, example Amir and Baba in the ‘Kite Runner’, Jalil and Miriam and Laila and Babi in ‘Thousand Splendid Suns’. The friendships between Amir and Hassan, Baba and Rahim Khan, Amir and Rahim Khan (in the Kite Runner) and between Laila and Tariq, Miriam and Laila, Miriam and Jalil, Miriam and Mullah Faizullah and Miriam and Aziza (in the Thousand Splendid Suns) are also very noteworthy. While Baba in the “Kite Runner” lived with his son Amir and Hassan, he was relatively emotionally detached perhaps out of guilt of his secret illegitimate child, Hassan. Jalil, in “Thousand Splendid Suns” on the other hand banished Mirriam and her mother, Nana to a remote kolba out of town but continued to secretly visit with gifts and toys. 2. Political conflict resulting from the Russian invasion, the Mujahedeen wars, and the Taliban reign of terror (public stoning, lashings, cutting of limbs, beheadings, gender segregation, banning of girls education, destruction of arts and literature, historical monuments and artifacts, etc). Women were decreed to wear the burqa and can only go out if accompanied by a male relative. The Taliban, it should be noted also destroyed the statues of the Buddha amid condemnation by UNESCO, and destroyed the writings of Rummy and Hafez as well as the music of Zahir Shah. Museums were burnt down as well. The Taliban tyranny would later be replicated in Timbuktu (Mali) under Tuareg invasion in 2012 and in Mosul (Iraq) under ISIL in 2014. 3. Class divisions in Afghanistan, with the wealthy and educated living a more secular conspicuous lifestyle (luxury cars, western clothes, cigars and whiskey) and the poor living in deprivation and religious conservatism characterized by the daily namas prayer and the burqa (hijab). Hosseini himself narrates from a class perspective, having been raised by a wealthy father in a wealthy suburb of Kabul with servants, nice cars, and frequent lavish parties. Hosseinis' high regard for the statues of Buddha, arts and literature especially by Rummy, Hafez, the paintings of the poet Khaja Abdullah Ansary, and many other fine things that may not mean much to many Afghans reveals his bourgeois traits. Hosseini indeed didn't also miss any opportunity to give the reader a lavish description of Kabul's cascading mountains, its lush vegetation and sparkling water, its beautiful sunsets, and bazaars and winding alleys. There is intense aspiration for nature. Amir and his father (Baba) and Zohrab, as well as Laila, Babi and Mami all aspired to go somewhere near the sea-California. Miriam also told Laila after killing their husband, Rasheed that they will go and live somewhere with lots of trees. Afghanistan’s class divisions also include a sad situation where women are judged by one set of rules and the men another. During the rule of the Shah and the Russian occupation, women fared much better than they did under the Taliban. Both Amir’s late mother and Laila’s father (Babi) were teachers. The notion of “honor and pride’ (nang and namos) is widely used to oppress women, deny their right to employment and movement, and in some cases justify severe punishment up to murder in case she brought shame in the family. In both books, we have seen Hosseini depicts an Afghanistan of powerful men taking advantage of powerless women; Baba and Senuba in the’ Kite Runner’, Jalil and Nana, and Rasheed and Laila in the ‘Thousand Splendid Suns’. Despite cultural sanctions, an underworld of "sin" continued to exist. Soraya General Iqbal's daughter eloped with a man, Tariq and Laila often derided as Laili and Majnoon (an Afghan equivalent of Romeo and Juliet ) had an intimate act in Laila's parents' living room, Baba had an illegitimate child (Hassan) with his servant's wife, and Jalil also had a 'harami' daughter (Miriam) with his female servant Nana. Senuba fled with musicians, an act Hosseini described as “worse than death” by most Afghans. Hassan, Miriam and Aziza are all haramis. The orphanages described in both books tell the horrors of sexual abuse, corruption, and deprivation. Both Zohrab and Laila suffered this fate. Also the Taliban's iron fist rule only fueled the smuggling of contraband goods: televisions, videos, and other clandestine activities banned were indulged privately when Talib officials were not looking. 4. Both books are also about the tragedy of war. Death, murder, rape, honor killings, how Assef (a Talib executioner) bragged about the massacre of Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharif by going door-to-door executing whole families. The first wave of refugees such as Amir and his father fled the war, and the second wave of refugees such as Rasheed and his family who survived the war had to flee the resulting crumbling economy of the war and Taliban rule. KEY TERMS: 1. Hazaras: a minority tribe of Mongol origins dating back to Genghis Khans. They are mostly Shia Muslims and work as servants. Ali (the servants of Baba) and his son Hassan are Hazaras. 2. Nang and Namos: means ‘honor and pride’. It mostly applies to women’s conduct. 3. Harami: an illegitimate child. Hassan, Mirriam, and Aziza are all haramis. 4. Baba (Babi): means father. Amir calls his father Baba and Laila calls her father Babi. RECOMMENDATION: ‘And The Mountains Echoed’, also by Khaled Hosseini