A Thousand Splendid Suns

I am not an avid reader. I haven't read a book cover-to-cover for my own enjoyment in years. But, in my english class, we are reading Khaled Hosseini's novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. Many of my friends had said the book was good. I didn't expect it to be anything special. Boy, was I wrong! The novel takes a look at the treatment of women in Afghanistan.
Before reading, I didn't know anything about Afghanistan, the Middle East, Pakistan, or the injustices that were being committed there. I knew that there was a war in the Middle East. The Taliban was just a word to me; it had no significance. This book has opened my eyes to the modern atrocities of man. I cannot believe what these women were being put through. The book partially takes place during my lifetime; I think that's what gets me the most. Stories of people being persecuted in foreign countries is supposed to be separated from me. History is supposed to be something that my grandparents lived through. But I was alive when these women were being abused, beaten, and bloodied!
A Thousand Splendid Suns reminds me that there is a world beyond the north-suburban Chicago area. It reminds me that not everybody is the same. But we all feel the same things.
I cannot speak highly enough about A Thousand Splendid Suns.