A Thousand Splendid Suns

In January 1989, Laila, her parents and friend, Hasina, go to watch the last Soviet convoy exit the city. Fariba, along with many other mothers, is hoisting a picture of her shaheed, or war-martyred sons, high above her head. Tariq turns up in a Russian fur hat as a joke, a comic detail in a tense atmosphere of his father’s heart-attack and Laila’s mother’s recitation of prayers. Tariq and Laila later go to the cinema and watch a Soviet film that is badly dubbed in Farsi. They laugh hysterically. When the film ends in a wedding scene, Tarik announces, “‘I’m never getting married’” (154). Laila echoes his sentiment, but not without a sense of disappointment. At the closing kiss in the film, “Laila felt strangely conspicuous all at once” and senses that Tariq is observing her to see how she will react (155). She hopes that he cannot see how she is imagining what it would be like to kiss him. Tariq breaks the tension with a joke about snot in Siberia.

Three years later, in April 1992, Tariq’s father has a series of strokes and Tariq has outgrown his artificial leg, and has to wait six months for the Red Cross to give him another. One of Laila’s friends, Hasina, has been taken to marry a cousin in Lahore. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union “crumble[s] with astonishing swiftness” (157). There is political turbulence as the Communists cannot hold onto power in Afghanistan either. The ex-Communist leader, Najibullah, who is depicting himself as a devout Muslim, tries to reach a deal with the Mujahideen, but they balk. Fariba is still holding vigils for the Mujahideen, waiting for her sons’ enemies to fall.

The Communists fall definitively in April 1992, when Laila turns 14. The day Najibullah surrenders, “Mammy rose from her bed a new woman,” active and merry (158). Fariba starts to notice Laila is becoming a young woman and is alert to the new inappropriateness of her relationship with Tariq, who is 16. She warns her that the “reputation of a girl, especially one as pretty as you, is a delicate thing […] like a mynah bird in your hands. Slacken your grip and away it flies” (160). Laila is annoyed with her mother’s intrusion after so many years of aloofness, but feels that on some level Fariba is right, because when she is out with Tariq, she is aware of “being looked at, scrutinized, whispered about” (161). She recalls that Rasheed had playfully termed them “Laili and Majnoon,” after the star-crossed lovers in a tale by the poet Nezami (161). Laila also knows that she’s fallen for Tariq.

At the party, there’s an atmosphere of festivity celebrating the new government, an Islamic Jihad Council formed by several Mujahideen factions that would oversee things for the time being. Laila is annoyed that Tariq is smoking and hanging out with a group of boys who call after girls. He teases her about how other girls think smoking is sexy, but then reassures her, “‘I only have eyes for you’” (167).

Then there is loud screaming in the yard—a fight has broken out among the guests over politics. There is debate over which Afghan politicians have collaborated with the Soviets. To Laila’s horror, Tariq has also “thrown himself into the scuffle” and there is a mass fight (168). 

The political situation unravels when a leadership council forms prematurely and the “Mujahideen, armed to the teeth but now lacking a common enemy, had found the enemy in each other” (169). When rockets rain down on Kabul, people run for cover and Fariba retreats to her bed. 

Life is tense in Kabul as rockets whistle in the sky and explode in random locations: “The flip side of being spared was the agony of wondering who hadn’t” (171). Laila is especially worried about Tariq.

It is guerrilla warfare on the streets, with warlords controlling different neighborhoods of the city and wreaking havoc on inhabitants, women and children included. Laila can barely go out anymore and when she does, she is accompanied by Tariq. Tariq has bought a gun, which he is proud of, and assures Laila that it is for protection.He has said he would only use it to kill for her, “a thing both lovely and terrible” (173). They share a kiss, which despite Fariba’s talk of reputation seems “a harmless thing” among so much killing (173). Hakim tries to convince Fariba to leave Kabul, but she is convinced that the fighting cannot last and that peace will come. Laila is taken out of school and taught by Hakim, who is in his element as a teacher. Nevertheless, Laila can only think of Tariq, with whom she has deepened her intimacy.

Her girlfriend, Giti, is struck by a stray rocket and is killed. Laila is devastated and weeps all the tears she was not able to shed for her brothers. 

Laila is floored when she learns that Tariq is leaving Afghanistan because his sick father’s heart cannot take the tension anymore. Tariq’s would be one of many families to flee the region. She is furious with him for abandoning her at first and then resolves to catch every moment she can with him, “like an art lover running out of a burning museum” (178). They have sex, which is a bold act, as there could be serious punishment if they are caught. Seeing three drops of her hymenal blood on the floor, Laila feels “the shame set in, and the guilt” (179). Tariq says they should get married and that Laila should come with him. He tells her he loves her, words she has long awaited to hear. But Laila is worried about leaving her father heartbroken and alone. Tariq is aware of her family obligations, but continues to plead. She throws him out, and, eventually, he leaves, promising he will come back for her.