Book Reviews: A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Beach

There is something that feels downright indulgent about lazing about on a beach towel, a sunny patch of grass, or a comfy couch, and soaking up the lilt and rhythm of well-crafted words on the written page. During my 8-day break from teaching last week, I managed to devour two novels, neither of which bore any resemblance to the another.

The first was pure fiction, a typical holiday read -- a few adventurous travelers careening off the backpacker trail and managing to all but disappear in an idyllic island utopia. The second, which much more challenging and at times difficult to digest, was for me, the more magnicent of the two, by far. Rooted in realism, it spoke of hardships hidden away behind closed doors in a faraway land where one's rights as a person hinge almost solely on gender. Coming face to face with the injustices of Afghani women in such a personal way was moving, endearing, humbling.

I belong to an online community of readers called GoodReads, which I wholeheartedly suggest booklovers anywhere. It's a great spot to pick up new titles for reading material, keep track of your favorites, share your own perspectives and discuss book with others. Here are my latest entries:

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reading this book led me almost forcefully into taking inventory of my challenges as well as the countless freedoms and opportunities that I have been given. In this book, Husseini exposes Afghanistan domestic life in an intimate and painfully straightforward way. The plight of Afghani women during the period surrounding the Taliban regime is heart-rending. Husseini has not written this work as a judgment on Afghan culture, but as a window for readers to look into the private lives of women who have been touched by the inequalities that have existed there. It is unthinkable to almost every single woman I have ever personally known to be denied the right to walk down a street, to wear her hair down, to make eye contact with whomever she chooses. And yet, this has been life as countless women have known it. Eye-opening and humbling.


View all my reviews.

The Beach by Alex Garland

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
A very Lord-of-the-Flies-esque read, heavy on backpacker pop-culture and quite a bit of the darker side of humanity. Having read it while on the beach in Busan, it was more or less entertaining, but I found the overall storyline, while an intriguing perspective of human nature and worthy of some discussion, a bit too raw and pessimistic. There's more to life than hunting down the "perfect" beach and smoking weed... right??


View all my reviews.