A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years, from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding, that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives, the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness, are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

The very first issue I had with this book was that I didn't like reading about a woman that is married against her will and that is afterward beaten for various reasons and trapped in an unhappy marriage. Because this is also the story of many real women, I felt bad and didn't enjoy reading the first few chapters. I nevertheless pushed myself and made it to the end rather satisfied.

I picked up A Thousand Splendid Suns mainly because I wanted to learn something new. This book is rich in history and culture of Afghanistan, and I'm glad it enlightened me.

This is the story of Mariam and Laila who survive the many conflicts in Afghanistan and also the hardships of their marriage to the same man, Rasheed, your typical cruel husband who beats and reduces the freedom of his wives. It's the story of how, despite those hardships, they create a family and find happiness after many years of death and war.

The book is written in the point of view of Mariam and Laila, and alternates between the two. The plot itself is quite good, but to me most of the characters seemed flat, at the beginning especially. There isn't much I could say about any of them. They aren't memorable characters, either, and got better only towards the ending of the book. Look how short my review is! I really don't have much to say about it. It is a book that will be appreciated for the mass of information it contains, for its message and meaning, but not for the characters.

I think this story should be read for the context and history it presents. It definitively has something to teach, but I consider A Thousand Splendid Suns as the kind of book that is only good to read if you want to get a good portrait of some chunk of history: The characters are flat, the writing style is simple and uninspiring, and so all you pay attention to or remember after the read is the drama and the moral.

-Beryl

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Rating: 7,7/10

Leviathan

Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.

So, everyone was pretty excited to read this book. I was glad when I got my hands on it, but I must say I didn't find it as amazing as I thought I would.

This book has two points of views. Alek's and Deryn's. First good point is that you see very well the differences between the world of Clankers and Darwinists. The dialogues and the mannerism is well adapted, and so when you have interactions between Alek and Deryn you see Deryn's strong tendency to curse and use slang-talk, and Alek's polite and fine way of speaking. I personally preferred Alek's point view, maybe because I have a liking for nobles and their fanciness and I liked Alek's royalty drama better than Deryn's i'm-a-boy-not-a-girl acting. The one thing I disliked in the character crew is that both Deryn and Alek look like children. They also act like ones, look like ones on the illustrations, and the things they say make you imagine them as 12-year-olds. I don't mind younger protagonists that much, but in this context it was a bit queer, and not what I had expected from Westerfield.

Even if finely described and furnished with at least two illustrations per chapter, the story didn't pick up until half the book. Well, I can't say it didn't 'pick up', because from the beginning of the story to the end action is rolling on. I just mean that the story didn't hook me until about the 250th page, which is when Deryn and Alek finally meet.

I found the concept of the story very interesting, and I love this war between Darwinists and Clankers, but I didn't find much alternation between the real World War I and Leviathan. Except the main concept and the characters, there are no new governmental systems, no new countries, nor a new 'world' that acts differently from ours but that still relates to it. All those beasties and the way they work are fantastic though.

In the end, I enjoyed this book, but it didn't send me over-the-heels. I didn't mind putting it away to finish some other books. I'll gladly purchase the second book, or simply borrow it as I think I won't feel the need to re-read the first or the second. The cover illustration was really nice, though, and I loved the caricature map.

-Beryl

Leviathan by Scott Westerfield
Rating: 8,3/10

Dirty Magic

After a night of particularly strange and vivid dreams, Joe is visited by a girl who seems to be all gray, from her hair to her eyes to her clothes. Wherever she steps, the world melts away, replaced by a land of mud and rain. Telling Joe he must come with her if he wants to save his younger sister, who is gravely ill, the girl leads Joe through to her gray world, which is in the midst of a twenty-year-old war. There Joe dodges bullets, fearsome motion-tracking tanks, and the secret police as he searches for his sister.

This was a strangely written book. I found it in the children’s section, the book looks childish, the writing is big, the protagonist is ten. Yet the vocabulary used is that of an adult, the children reason like adults, the setting is very mature. A war-streaked land, two ethnicities fighting ruthlessly, manipulative ambassadors, slavery, death penalties are all part of this book.

First of all, Joe, the protagonist, was bland. He was a flat nobody who had absolutely nothing else in mind than his guilt (since he thinks he is responsible for his little sister’s sickness). In fact, he obsesses over it and after a hundred times, the whole deal gets annoying. Also, he has way too much luck for my liking. Katherine was okay, but she thought too much like an adult. A ten year old, no matter what it went through, will always be a ten year old. Her decisions were the wise, rational ones of a battle veteran. Because yes, she lives and has lived all her life in the midst of a twenty year old conflict and runs around in sodden trenches. It’s a wonder she didn’t die of hypothermia. The thing is, she isn’t the only child in this condition. They all are. Lastly, Spider was way too good at orientation even though he was a blind man. And his “I felt the ground, It was dryer” and other lame excuses for his super-skills don’t fool me, he has the same comportment as a seeing man. Spider hears and smells and feels too well for it to be anywhere near realistic. He can also read and write.

The plot itself took too long to unravel. Travel to place A, then place B, and then place C, and then you might understand a little better what’s going on. I kept wondering why Joe had had to come to this warring world from our own, what a charge was, and the lack of answers made me frustrated and mad. Everything was explained in the very last chapter, and it ended very abruptly after that, almost as if the ending had been rushed. But to be fair, I have to say the plot was okay. The problem is, it was more or less drowned by strange and rather useless events, and the lack of explanations made this a tough read.

The writing style was downright strange. At times, it felt as if she were talking to a six year old. At other times, words like derelict or simian come up, and even I need a quick check in the dictionary to make sure I understand correctly. Also, the fact that a clicking sound was compared to the noise made by a Geiger counter was too much. Most people don’t know what a Geiger counter is, let alone know what it sounds like. The attempts at humor were pitiful fails.

There was one thing that made me desperately annoyed. Joe got a bullet through his hand in the first few pages of the book, and 215 pages, there is no mention of this event. He walks for three days straight, his bloody bandage is wet and muddy, yet he isn’t in pain? Not even a little? When I remembered about this wound, I smacked my head against the book a couple of times.

One truly great point in this book was the machines. They were extraordinary. They were frightening to read about, and I wouldn’t want to encounter any of them any day. Each machine had a different role, different weapons, a different appearance. Their descriptions were epic, and I have to admit the parts in which they were included fascinated me.

Perhaps if the characters had been more realistic, the writing more unified and the story and plot more explained, this book would’ve been better. The good elements were hidden behind the incoherencies, and a little more realism could’ve gone a long way. It is a book only to be read if absolutely nothing else is available.

-Aithen

Dirty Magic by Carol Hughes
Rating : 6,2/10