A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

This book is as riveting as The Kite Runner.  It spans over forty years, charting the lives of Mariam and Laila.  Mariam is born an illegitimate child, living in poverty in Herat.  Laila, born a generation later, is more affluent, until tragedy strikes her family.  Eventually, their lives intersect.

Hosseini describes this book as a mother-daughter story, whereas The Kite Runner is a father-son story.  Both are about family, redemption, guilt, and national pride.  This book has more Afghan history than its predecessor.  We get a sense of the suffering that Afghanistan has experienced at the hands of the Soviets and Taliban - the bombings, the inequality towards women, the poverty, the fear, and so on.  In the Afterword, Hosseini says that during this time, as many as 8 million Afghan refugees had fled the country, usually landing in Pakistan or Iran.  With this story, we better understand the country more so than we ever could from the news alone.

I will have to eventually read And the Mountains Echoed.