thousandsplendidsuns

**__ A Thousand Splendid Suns Book Club __**
=__ 1st Book Club: December 3: (Read Chapters 1-12) __=
 * __ A. Group Leader __ : ** **__Dara Cooper__**
 * __ B.+ C. Quotation Finder and Key Questioner: Carly Truglio __**
 * __ D. Group Summarizer: __** **__ Halley Gradus __**

**__ A-Group Questions: __** ** On your group's wiki page, describe the main characters in your text. What makes them interesting? What is their story or background? Why are you drawn to them? Conversely, are there any characters that you just cannot stand? Why not? **

The most important character, in our opinion, is Mariam. She is a very young mature 15-year old girl that is trying to cope with her life. She has a very difficult life being that her dad doesn't like her as much as his other children and her mom killed herself; she dealt with it very well. She also was forced to marry a man 30 years older than her without her consent. She never complained and looked on the bright side of the situation. She lived in a hut with her mom all her life knowing that her father is living in a much nicer and bigger house but never complains. That's what made her such a strong character. She would always look on the positive side of every situation and truly would never complain. Next, Nana is Mariam's mother who is a victim to seizures. She was forced to bring up Mariam alone all life while being distant from society because she was not married to Mariam's father. Because of this, Nana was extremely pessimistic. Nana constantly made Mariam feel guilty about her existence even though it wasn't Mariam's fault she was born. Nana would also tell Mariam that Nana would have no one else besides Mariam, and if Mariam were to leave her; she would kill herself. One night Mariam left Nana to go visit her dad and Nana killed herself. Lastly, there is Jalil. In the beginning Jalil seemed like a pretty nice guy that would often visit Mariam and bring her gifts. However, as it went on through the chapters, out group started to hate Jalil. He would never follow through on his promises to Mariam and showed no sympathy to Mariam when Nana died. He also approved on making Mariam get married at 15 and never talked to Mariam about it before. As well, he made Mariam sleep outside his house on night because he told the driver to lie to Mariam and tell her he wasn't home. Jalil, in our opinion, is a huge jerk. He is even a bigger jerk because he pretends he is not.

**__ B- Quotations __** 1) "Mariam did surmise, by the way Nana said the word, that it was an ugly, loathsome thing to be a harmami, like an insect, like the scurrying cockroaches Nana was always cursing and sweeping out of the kolba." (4) 2) "Nana said, "learn this now and learn it well, my daughter; Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that Mariam." (7) 3) "If she could articulate it, she might have said to Nana that she was tired of being an instrument, of being lied to, laid to claim to, used. That she was sick of Nana twisting the truths of their life and making her, Mariam, another of her grievances against the world. "(26)  4) "It did not escape Mariam that no mention was made of her half sisters Saideh or Naheed, both her own age, both students in the Mehri School in Herat, both with plans to enroll in Kabul University. Fifteen, evidently, was not a good, solid marrying age for them." (44) 5) "And the burqa, she learned to her surprise, was also comforting. It was like a one-way window. Inside it, she was an observer, buffered from the scrutinizing eyes of strangers. She no longer worried that people knew, with a singe glance, all the shameful secrets of her past." (66)

__** C- Key Questions **__ 1) How did your opinion change of Jalil from the beginning of the book to the end of chapter 12? 2) Do you think Nana was looking out for Mariam when she told her that her father is a liar and she is not going to get far in life? 3) What was your reaction when the wifes of Jalil married Mariam off? 4) We are fifteen too, do you think our life's are completely different than Mariam? Why? 5) Do you think Mariam's husband is a good guy? Do you predict anything about what is going to happen to them?

__** D- Group Summary **__ Before the discussion we criticized Carly for not bringing in anything to eat (although there is no consequence for this, nobody could deny more food). Despite our slight lack of food, we began to discuss Carly's questions and quotes. We all immediately agreed that American life differed greatly from Afghan life. For instance, Mariam parents were not married when she was born, and never did get married. Since she was a bastard child, also known as a harami, her and her mom were banned from the town in which they lived to a hut in the middle of nowhere. We all agreed how horrible this banishment was but Carly brought up that this might have been better for Mariam since she would not have to personally face her father's lack of appreciation toward her as a child. This led into a conversation about Nana, Mariam's mother. Dara said Nana did care about Mariam but was not a good mother because she always made Mariam feel as though she ruined her mother's life. Dara also said that when Nana killed herself she left Mariam with the sense that her death was Mariam's fault. I agreed since I felt Nana would have killed herself eventually, even if Mariam did not leave her for her father.

Then we began discussing the roles of Afghani men versus Afghani women. We are all appalled that Jalil has three wives. Dara says she does not understand how the wives can live under one roof with Jalil. Although none of us like Jalil, I do bring up that he is more modern than the other men since he has a car and allows his wives to have more freedom. Then, we began to talk about Rasheed, Mariam's wife. Carly mentions that although American women would not accept such a controlling man, under the circumstances, Mariam is lucky. She says it is a good thing that Mariam gets to sleep in a different room and that Rasheed shows no signs of violence. Although I understood what she was saying, I told her that it is not fair that Rasheed forces Mariam to wear the full burqa even though he owns magazines that are much like Play Boy. Carly pointed out that Mariam liked the wearing the burqa. Dara said that at first she said it was uncomfortable and squeezed her head. I added that she might have become happy with it because she knew she had to deal since Rasheed would not let her wear anything else. Carly does think, however, that something is off about Rasheed. She mentions that it was foreshadowing when Mariam finds his gun. We all agree and realize that whatever happens it probably will not work in Mariam's favor.

=__ 2nd Book Club: December 10: (Read Chapters 13-23) __= **__ A. Group Leader __ : ** **__Halley Gradus__** **__ B.+ C. Quotation Finder and Key Questioner: Dara Cooper __** **__ D. Group Summarizer: __** **__ Carly Truglio __**

__** A-Group Questions: **__
 * 1. On your group's wiki page, discuss the type of language that your book contains. Is it easy to read? Conversational? "Classic"? Does it use a lot of words you don't understand? What grade level do you think the book is written at, and why? (A) **


 * This book is fairly easy to read with a few exceptions. However, the meaning of these exceptions can be found using context clues making the book even easier to understand. The language is completely appropriate for any level of high school and all adults since but might be a challenge to middle school students. The language is made harder by various Arabic words spread out among the text. Most of the time, these words are defined in the reading. Nonetheless, there are some words that their a definition is not given and the reader is inclined to infer the meaning or look it up. Usually, the words left undefined are titles of endearment and pretty insignificant to the story. The book appropriately uses dialogue in a way that the reader can understand each character. In addition, the words used describe the setting in such a way that the reader feels as though they are there and experiencing each event. **

**__ B- Quotations: __** 1). "Some days, she believed that the baby had been an undeserved blessing, that she was being punished for what she had done to Nana. Wasn't it true that she might as well have slipped that noose around her mother's neck herself?" (84) 2). "But when he came home, he took one look at her and winced with such distaste that she rushed to the bathroom and washed it all off, tears of shame mixing with soapy water, rouge, and mascara." (90) 3). "'And I also know that when this war is over, Afghanistan is going to need you as much as its men, maybe even more. Because a society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated, Laila. No chance." (103) 4). **//She// would never leave her mark on Mammy's heart the way her brothers had, because Mammy's heart was like a pallid beach where Laila's footprints would forever wash away beneath the waves of sorrow that swelled and crashed, swelled crashed." (130) ** **5). "For Mammy, this was the day she has longed for. This brought to fruition all those years of waiting. At last, she could end her vigils, and her sons could rest in peace." (145) **

**__ C- Key Questions: __** **1). Why do you think Tariq wanted to defend Laila when the boys were teasing her? ** **2). How do you think Laila and Mariam are going to "meet up" in the future? ** **3). Why do you think Mammy apologized to Laila about being such a bad mother so abruptly? **  **4). Do you think that Mariam still feels uncomfortable around Rasheed and still has to impress him in order for her to be accepted? ** **5). Why do you think Mammy was so surprised to see how the house and Laila had changed while she was "sick in bed"? **

__** D- Group Summary: **__ ** After we got settled with our bagels and iced tea we began talking about what we thought of the previous chapters. We all decided that we really loved this book! Halley said that she feels like she is actually there in the story, which is cliche but true. Then, Dara started to read her quotes. We all talked about how horrible Mariam's husband is to her now that she can not have children. Also, we talked about the second part of the book and how we really like the love story between Laila and Tariq. All of us completely agree that her life is even worse then it was before. We also discussed that the way Khaled Hosseini ties Mariam's story with Laila's story is really cool. Halley and Dara both like Mariam's story more. They said it was really sad but alot more interesting. While I liked Lailia's story. We realized in the book we find out a lot of historical events that happened in the Middle East that we knew very little about. We all really like how it gives us a first hand look on what the citizens thought about these events such as several of the Pakistani wars. **

**Next we talked through the questions and as a group we dislike Laila's mother. She is stuck in the past and even though she is morning the loss of her two sons she still needs to pay attention to Laila. Then we all contemplated how Mariam and Laila will meet up in the book. I thought they would never meet up but Halley and Dara disagree. Finally we talked about the language of the book and decided it was for high schoolers and adults. We think it is a little too sophisticated for middle school students. The context is also way to sophisticated for middle school students as well. In the book there are some words that are in Arabic but we all agreed that we thought it was really cool and the context clues make it easy to figure out what they mean. All three of us cannot wait to see what happens next and agree that we really enjoy reading this book. **

= **__ 3rd Book Club: December 17: (Read Chapters 24-36) __** = **__ A. Group Leader __ : Carly Truglio ** **__ B.+ C. Quotation Finder and Key Questioner: Halley Gradus __** **__ D. Group Summarizer: __** **__ Dara Cooper __**

__**A-Group Questions: **__ Assignment: 1. On your group's wiki page, discuss the mood or tone of your book.What is the overriding emotion of this book? What examples back up your claim? The mood and tone of this book is truly dark and depressing. Pretty much everyone who is close to the main character dies. Mariam's mother killed herself, Laila's parents were bombed, Laila's brothers were killed in the war, Laila's friend was bombed, and her boyfriend who was trying to escape Kabul was killed in a surprise attack. All the two women have is each other to protect themselves against their evil husband, Rasheed who only cares about his own pleasure and and beats them when they "misbehave." To read this book you have to have a strong emotional tolerance because it will make you cry. It is especially depressing because these events happen in real life and women have to face similar situations in real life.

__**B- Quotations: **__ 1. “And the look, the myriad of //looks//, on Tariq: of apprehension, tenderness, apology, embarrassment, but mostly, mostly, of hunger” (164). 2. “ ‘One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls” (172). 3. “Then she lifted the blanket and let her finger bleed on the sheets where they had lain together” (197). 4. “It ought to have felt exhilarating, but the girl’s eyes had teared up and her face was drooping, and what satisfaction Mariam found from this outburst felt meager, somehow illicit” (202). 5. “He let the gate go prematurely, and it almost hit the girl on the face. He crossed the yard in a few, quick steps. Mariam detected a shadow on his face, a darkness underlying the coppery light of dusk” (211).

__**C- Key Questions: **__ 1. What makes the death of Giti so much more painful for Laila than the death of her own brothers? 2. Why did Laila turn down Tariq's offer to get married? Considering what happened to Tariq, do you think it Laila made the right decision? 3. Why were the deaths of Laila's parents, especially her father, so ironic? 4. Knowing how openly horrible Rasheed was Mariam, why did he put on such a facade for Laila? 5. How did Rasheed's reaction to Laila and Mariam differ after they tried to runaway?

__**D- Group Summary: **__ After we sat down with our bagels, we talked about how much we loved the book so far. For a few minutes we just contemplated how horrible Laila and Mariam’s life is. Everyone that was close to Laila (her parents, her boyfriend, her best friend) died and she only has Mariam and her baby to keep on living. We first started with Halley’s quotes. We first began talking about Tariq and how caring and sympathetic he was towards Laila. We were so upset that he died so tragically. Halley said how she had even started crying because it was so tragic. That discussion led to Laila being asked to marry Tariq and how she had turned him down. She knew she had to stay with her family because they needed her just as much as she needed her. We couldn't believe how horrible the situation was because we wanted Laila to marry Tariq and go run away with his family. However, Tariq's family died in a ambushed fire and if Laila had gone, she probably would have died. We also couldn't believe how Laila luckily survived the bomb that had hit her house because she was outside. Her dad was supposed to live, not her.

After every bad event in the book, another worse event happens after. That was the one thing that came across the most during our discussion. The one bright moment in the book so far, we believe, was the part about Laila and Mariam coming together to become friends even though Mariam didn't approve of Laila marrying Rasheed. We all thought that was a vital importance to the story because Mariam and Laila need each other. They bonded together to run away, even though they got caught. The most disturbing thing in the book so far was definitely when Rasheed beat Laila and Mariam. It was a horrible picture in our minds, and we definitely would never forget it. Overall, the general mood of the book is, by far, depressing. There is always something horrible happening, even after a miraculous bright event occurs.

=__ 4 th Book Club: December 7: (Read Chapters 37-46) __=
 * __ A. Group Leader __ : ** **__Dara Cooper__**
 * __ B.+ C. Quotation Finder and Key Questioner: Carly Truglio __**
 * __ D. Group Summarizer: __** **__ Halley Gradus __**

__**A-Group Questions: **__ The theme is very reoccurring throughout the book. Hope and intellect can help pull every human being through times of disaster. In other words, something good always comes from something bad. As well, one should never take life for granted. Even something as going to school every day is a true privilege to us; being that other countries are not as fortunate as us. With the imagery, the author does a wonderful job of portraying it. Mariam represents optimisim and always looking for the best after a tragedy. Tariq represents hope and compassion because he is always there after the biggest times of tragedy. Rasheed represents male superiority and selfishness. When Mariam kills Rasheed, it is optimism killing male superiority. This gives us hope that one day in the future, men will see woman as their equals. The author uses these images to convey his meaning because he wants to leave an impact on the readers. Instead of the book being literate, the author uses the characters to represent these images and themes.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1. On your group's wiki page, discuss the themes and images that your book contains. What are some of the images that are used? What do they seem to represent? Why do you think the author uses these images to convey his or her meaning? (A) **

__**<span style="color: #4d0085; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">B- Quotations: **__ 1. "Laila dropped the spoke because she could not accept what the Mujahideen readily had; that sometimes in war innocent life had to be taken. Her war was against Rasheed. The baby was blameless. And there had been enough killing already, Laila had seen enough killing of innocents caught in the cross fire of enemies." (253) 2. "She said this in a pragmatic, almost indifferent, tone, and Mariam understood that this was a woman far past outrage. Here was a woman, she thought, who had understood that she was lucky to even be working, that there was always something, something else, that they could take away. " (260) 3. " ' Everybody wants Jack,' Laila said to Mariam. 'That's what it is. Everybody wants Jack to rescue them from disaster. But there is no Jack. Jack is not coming back. Jack is dead.' " (270) 4. "In her head, she saw Zaman's thick, calloused hands close around Aziza's arms; she saw them pull, gently at first, then harder, then with force to pry Aziza loose from her She saw Aziza kicking in Zaman's arms as he hurriedly turned the corner, heard Aziza screaming as though she were about to vanish from the face of the earth. And Laila saw herself running down the hallway, head down, a howl rising up her throat." (284) 5. " Laila followed his finger. There was a man at the front door of the house, leaning against it. His head turned when he saw them approaching. He uncrossed his arms. Limped a few steps toward them. Laila stopped. A choking noise came up her throat. Her knees weakened. Laila suddenly wanted, needed, to grope for Mariam's arm, her shoulder, her wrist, something, anything to lean on. But she didn't. She didn't dare. She didn't dare move a muscle. She didn't dare breathe, or blink even, for fear that he was nothing but a mirage shimmering in the distance, a brittle illusion that would vanish at the slightest provocation." (291)

__**<span style="color: #4d0085; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">C- Key Questions: **__ 1. How was life completely different from when Laila was pregnant with Aziza to when Laila was pregnant with Zalmai? 2. Do you think it was the right decision to put Aziza into an orphanage or do you think she would be better off in the house? 3. What was your reaction when Laila found out Tariq was still alive? 4. Obviously Rasheed deserved to die, but was Mariam being reasonable when she killed him? Was she thinking about the aftermath? 5. Should Mariam go with Laila or should she stay home and wait for all the blame to be put on her?

__**<span style="color: #4d0085; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">D- Group Summary: **__ While anticipating a snow day (that never happened), we did not know where to start our discussion since the section we read was so eventful. We started first discussing Laila’s son Zalmai. Dara and I thought Laila made the decision not to kill the baby in her womb. Carly said that she doesn’t understand how Laila would be able to love both of her children equally, since one is fathered by the love of her life and the other's was Rasheed. I said that even though she despised Rasheed and that the baby would resemble the awful man, it was still her son and. We were all astonished that Laila was able to give birth without medicine in that poorly kept hospital. Next, we discussed how the Taliban stripped all rights from women; the ability to work and the ability to be cared for in the same hospital as men. Then we talked about when Laila had to put her daughter Aziza in an orphanage. We agreed that it was the right decision but we could not even imagine the strength Laila needed to put her daughter there for a period of time. Carly felt as though something weird was happening at the orphanage especially after reading how Zaman would touch all of the children’s heads and the appearance of Aziza’s stutter. Dara said that she thought it was awesome that the orphanage was teaching the kids information in all different subject. I expressed my fear that they would be caught and killed by the Taliban.

Next, we talked about Tariq’s reappearance. We were all so surprised and happy but we could not believe Rasheed paid somebody to break inaccurate news to Laila. We hope that they will eventually be happy together, but this book keeps bringing so many twists. Then we discussed Rasheed’s death. I personally thought Mariam was being reasonable to kill Rasheed. I said she could not watch her friend, almost her daughter, be killed, no matter what the consequences. I felt her only regret was taking Zalmai’s father away for him. Carly and Dara felt she should have thought it through first. We all agreed that Maraim was being extremely selfless but were saddened by the fact that she is no longer going to be in the book.

**__ 5th Book Club: December 14: (FINISH BOOK!) __**
**__ A. Group Leader __ : ** **__Halley Gradus__** **__ B.+ C. Quotation Finder and Key Questioner: Dara Cooper __** **__ D. Group Summarizer: __** **__ Carly Truglio __**

__**<span style="color: #4d0085; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A-Group Questions: **__ Was there a moral or ultimate message to the text? Would you recommend the text to your peers? Why or Why not? Has this topic been discussed more/less effectively in another book or books? Should this book be considered for the school's curriculum? Will this book go down as an "all-time classic" or will it be quickly forgotten? The moral of this story is hope within the hearts of women living in third world countries. With a unanimous decision, we would recommend this book to our peers. The book was so well written that you felt as though you were part of the setting and knew the characters. Also, we all felt as though the characters were so relatable in different ways as they struggled through love, pain, and oppression. Although it might be controversial, we feel as though this book should be considered for the school's curriculum. It is filled with brilliant and exotic language and teaches the reader about important events of Afghanistan's past. This book will definitely not be forgotten because of its moving story line. We all agree that it is so powerful that it might one day be considered a classic. __<span style="color: #4d0085; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">**B- Quotations:** __ 1. "'But you, Laila, you'll make us two dummies proud. You're going to be somebody. I know one day I'll pick up a newspaper and find your picture on the front page."' (364) 2. "Yet as she closed her eyes, it was not regret any longer but a sensation of abundant peace that washed over her. She thought of her entry into this world, the harami child of a lowly villager, an unintended thing, a pitiable, regrettable accident. A weed. And yet she was leaving this world as a woman who had loved and been loved back." (329) 3. "And then, from the darkened spirals of her memory, rise two lines of poetry, Babi's farewell ode to Kabul: //One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs. Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind the walls."// (347). 4."Laila watches Mariam glue strands of yarn onto her doll's head. In a few years, this little girl will be a woman who will make small demands on life, who never burden others, who will never let on that she too has had sorrows, disappointments, dreams that have been ridiculed." (355) 5. "But this game involves only male names. Because, if it's a girl, Laila has already named her." (367)

__ **C- Key Questions:** __ 1. Do you like how Hosseini wrote the part about Mariam being in prison and then being killed? 2. How do you think Laila felt after reading the note and seeing the contents of the box from Jalil? 3. Do you think Laila was doing the right thing by lying to Zalmai about Rasheed? 4. Do you think they did the right think by moving back to Kabul? 5. How do you think the future is going to plan out for Tariq, Laila, and the children? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">__**<span style="color: #4d0085; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">D- Group Summary: **__ After we settled down, got our bagels, and opened our computers we immediately started talking about the ending. All three of us loved how after such tragic twists in the plot, the ending actually gave us hope. Then Halley pointed out that we should start discussing the quotes and we all started to talk about Laila's new life with Tariq. We all agreed that Laila had grown up, completely matured, and changed since her childhood, but Tariq still has his moments when he acts like the same child who Laila fell in love with. Then, we spoke about Mariam and how brave she was after she was sentenced to execution. In the book the author do not come right out and say she was going to be killed. Dara and I both had to read a couple pages over to figure out what was going to happen to her, but Halley knew right away. We discussed how we would never be able to go into a stadium of people knowing they were going to watch you get murdered, but Mariam did it with poise. We all felt awful when Laila got a hold of Jalil's letter to Mariam because unfortunately Mariam never had the chance to read it. When Laila visited Mariam's childhood home the three of us could not get over how well Hosseini wrote the chapter. I commented that in movies and TV it is easy to transform the character in the present to be looking at what was going on in the past but extremely hard to do it in a book. Though in this chapter we all completely visualized what was going on. We then talked about Zalmai and how Laila lied to him about his father, saying that he went away on a trip when really he passed away. There was mixed emotions on this subject. For a little while we thought it was a bad idea and Zalmai should know the truth about his father but, then one of us pointed out that he was only three or four at the time and now had a new father figure he loved, so maybe he would just move on. Overall we agreed that //A Thousand Splendid Suns// was an amazing book, probably one of the top books we have ever read. Halley even said that because she read this book she can no longer read a Jodi Picult or Nicolas Sparks' book ever again. This book gave us a huge insight on Women in Afghanistan and how strong they are. We all believe we are extremely lucky to live in the United States and have all the rights we have because if we lived anywhere else like Afghanistan we would not have the same opportunities we are given here.