30 day book challenge – #9 Book that makes you sick

The most gruesome scene I can recall in a novel I’ve recently read is in ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khaled Hosseini. The description of the devastation caused by a bomb to one girl’s family in Kabul is stomach-churning not just because of the image of a torso, still clad in a t-shirt with a well know slogan on it, but because the reader has only just got to know the wearer of the t-shirt and how important he was in the life of the 15 year old girl who witnesses the devastation.

By letting the reader into the everyday life of this family so intimately, and then have them blown up so vividly really catches you off guard. The worry you now feel for Laila, the lone survivor, erupts straight away and embeds itself in your stomach. With such a brutal beginning to Laila’s story, you know things will get worse before they stand a chance of getting better.

But there is hope in this novel. The relationship that builds between the two main female characters is beautifully conveyed and there is hope for a happy ending for Laila. She is a strong character and although the reader may constantly fear that her strength and boldness will get her into trouble, and although the story does not end in a perfect happy-ever-after, Laila is vindicated and the reader leaves her with hope for the future.

The cover of this novel suits the title very well. The colours are the yellows and oranges of a hot sun. The lone female figure walking across the barren desert is the orange centre, the focal point of the story.