Have you ever wished you could live a free life? With no one telling you what to do? In the fictional book A Thousand Splendid Suns, written by Khaled Hosseini that is all Mariam and Laila Jo wished for. Hosseini portrays life through the eyes of two Middle Eastern girls with little freedom in the world they live. This is a “mother-daughter” type story where Meriam acts as the mom and Laila is the daughter, however, it is not that simple. Meriam and Laila are connected in a much different way, both met by complete chance when Laila was forced into a marriage with Meriam’s already husband. In Afghanistan women are looked at as an object not so much as a person, therefore men marry more than one woman, in search for the gender of kid they want. Meriam’s and Laila’s husband, Rasheed is looking for a son and that is what he really wants. However, when having a child with Laila Rasheed gifted with a baby girl. Rasheed does not look at the child as a gift, unfortunately as more of a burden.  The baby girl cause things to go even further downhill from where they started and the treatment worsens. “…Like a compass facing north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman…” this gives insight on how men blame women in Afghanistan any chance they have. Mariam is saying these things to Laila as words of wisdom. Even though married to the same man Mariam is a generation older than Laila and this is where she steps in to be the motherly figure Laila needs. Laila is younger and not as familiar with the poor reality of being in a marriage with a controlling man. This book is a great piece of work; it gives great insight and ideas on how life on the other side of the world works. It tends to start off dry and work its way into deeper concepts you just have to know when to pick

up the bigger picture Hosseini is trying to portray, “A Society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated”, this is the whole main idea of the book in one quote said by Mariam. She realizes the problems she faces and all she tries to pass on in experience is that you have to keep moving on; “Laila has moved on. Because in the end she knows that’s all she can do. That and hope”, Laila takes from what Meriam has taught her and applies it in her future.  Overall I liked what Khaled Hosseini did with this book, he left it open for a huge range of readers from 14years and up, and it teaches a great lessons that everyone one should know and be aware of, it’s up to you to pick them out and see what he’s trying to say for yourself.