Books: Talent shines light on true cost of war
Reviewed this week is A Thousand Splendid Suns, After Dark and True Evil
Sunday, May 27, 2007
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini (hardback by Bloomsbury Publishing, £16.99)
When Khaled Hosseini's heart-rending debut novel, The Kite Runner, was
published in 2003 it was met with glowing reviews across the world, and so
it's with great relief that his long-awaited follow-up looks set to do
exactly same.
Centering on the lives and loves of two remarkably strong women who form a
bond as unbreakable as it is unlikely, this book can hardly fail to move
even the most embittered of hearts, particularly given the sheer depth of
character Hosseini paints in both Mariam and Laila.
Set in the achingly beautiful but war-torn landscapes of Afghanistan, Mariam
is just 15 when her rich father Jahil banishes her to Kabul and into a
marriage with bitter Rasheed, three decades her senior.
Following numerous painful miscarriages, Rasheed quickly loses patience with
his naive young wife, and Mariam is soon resigned to an existence as little
more than his personal slave, forced to suffer his violent beatings without
complaint.
Twenty-odd years later, as the bloodshed between Afghanistan's various
tribes threatens to reach a terrifying crescendo, young Laila's parents are
killed outright when a rocket blasts through their home, which happens to be
on the same street as Mariam and Rasheed.
Broken, alone and, she soon realises, pregnant, Laila is devastated when she
is informed that her childhood sweetheart Tariq has also been killed, and
sees no other option but to accept Rasheed's manipulative offer to become
his second wife - and pass off her unborn child as his own.
Although initially hostile towards Laila, Mariam grows to love and rely upon
her, and the two women soon form an affinity that even the infamous
brutality of the Taliban could never hope to break.
The son of an Afghan diplomat whose family received political asylum in the
United States in 1980, Hosseini's mesmerising talent for story-telling once
again shines a light on the true human cost of war, while simultaneously
highlighting the strength of love and friendship to overcome even the
longest of odds.
Emma Pomfret
After Dark
Haruki Murakami
(hardback by Harvill Secker, £15.99)
The time is 11.56pm. As the midnight hour approaches in an all-night diner
in a city in Japan, Mari sips her coffee and is deeply engrossed in a book,
before a scruffy young musician disturbs her solitude.
Takahashi, the musician, has plans to rehearse with his jazz band all night,
and Mari is equally content to read, smoke and drink coffee until dawn. They
soon realise they've already been acquainted through Eri, Mari's
super-beautiful sister.
Takahashi leaves with a promise to return before dawn, but Mari isn't able
to carry on reading in peace. Shortly afterwards, she is interrupted by a
girl from the hotel nearby; a Chinese prostitute has been hurt by a client
and the girl has heard Mari speaks fluent Mandarin and requests her help.
So far, all the happenings seem to be quite normal, but this is Murakami,
acclaimed master of the surreal. Devoted fans will be waiting for something
bizarre to happen, and before long, it does.
The first surreal event we witness happens to Mari's sister, Eri, who is at
home and in a deep, heavy sleep.
This sleep is too perfect, too pure to be normal; pulse and respiration at
the lowest required level.
She has been in this soporific state for two months, and Eri has become the
classic myth - a sleeping beauty.
But tonight, as the clock welcomes the turn of day, something new happens.
Like Murakami's other works, After Dark will take you on a journey -
slightly magical and slightly fantastical - through the hours that most of
us would be tucked up snugly in bed.
Shereen Low
True Evil
Greg Iles (hardback by Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99)
Can you truly trust the person you have married? This is the question posed
by FBI agent Alexandra Morse to small town doctor Chris Shepard in True Evil.
Chris maintains that he can, but Alex presents disturbing evidence: Chris's
rich young wife of one year has been seen visiting the offices of a divorce
attorney.
That fact alone would be troubling to Dr Shepard, who had believed the
marriage to be solid, but Agent Morse has discovered a frightening trend of
rich individuals with spouses who have rather conveniently died, negating
the need for expensive court settlements and bitter custody battles.
It leads Agent Morse to believe that Chris Shepard will be the next victim
of an insidious killer capable of offering a perfect, untraceable murder,
and she needs the doctor's help in order to catch them. The turmoil into
which Dr Shepard's life is thrown by these revelations is described by Alex
as "Alfred Hitchcock brought to life": an apt comparison, for
suspense rather than surprise is definitely the watchword of True Evil.
This is not a thriller relying upon shock revelations in the closing
chapters, nor are the plot and characters likely to amaze with their
originality: it is only the depth of the characters which lifts them from
being well-worn cliches and makes us care enough to captivate our interest
throughout the clearly foreseen events.
With instantly likeable heroes and villains you can despise yet understand,
the journey to the inevitable conclusion may be familiar, but the trip will
be made in excellent company.
Craig Payne
