A Thousand Splendid Suns (Book Review)

Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Source: Library

Goodreads:
A moving story about two women set in Afghanistan. The book's story illustrates both the second class, serf-like treatment of two women and their subjection to physical and emotional brutality that was allowed, enabled and endorsed. We also get to see the bravery, kindness and self-resilience of these same two women. Despite the harsh reality of the story, the humanness and compassion shown by both women while trying to survive in such a brutal and oppressive environment is very uplifting.

Thoughts:
I knew very little of the modern history of Afghanistan going into this book so history lessons that this novel provides was very eye-opening and interesting. Khaled Hosseini does a wonderful job of painting a picture of what it must have been like to live in Afghanistan over the last generations.

On top of this setting is a compelling story of Mariam and Laila that really touchest the heart. The layout of the story, going from to the other with little connection, in the beginning made the book hard to get into at first for me. I did struggle through the first quarter or so of the book.

However the struggle was well worth it because the book gets better and better as it goes on and the ending is both powerful and emotional. It is a story of the history of women and war and rulers in Afghanistan as well as a heart-breaking tale of love and family and well worth the read.

Rating: 4/5

The Lost Hero (Book Review)

Title: The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1)
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Source: Library

Goodreads Summary:
Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper and a best friend named Leo. They’re all students at a boarding school for “bad kids.” What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly?

Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out.

Leo has a way with tools. When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too—like the curse everyone keeps talking about. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them—including Leo—is related to a god.

Thoughts:
I liked this book. Considering how much everyone has told that this series would be perfect for me, I am sort of surprised to say I didn't love it. The plot is very interesting and despite having figured out what the big secret that was revealed at the end was about half way through the book, it kept me entertained and wanting to keep reading to see what happened next.

However, the characters seemed a little one-dimensional to me. And for me, when reading, characters have always been a much bigger part of me falling in love with a book than the plot. There are books that I have loved where the plot made no sense just because the characters were that good.

So there is nothing wrong with this book. The plot makes sense, the story-telling is excellent. I enjoyed reading it. But I didn't rush out to look for the sequel when I was finished and to me, that's an indication that something was missing.

Rating: 3.5/5