May I suggest A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. A historical fiction, Hosseini immerses the reader into an intimate 30-year journey through the lives of two women living in Afghanistan. The depth of hardship, despair, brutality, and sorrow that these women face are unfathomable. I have to warn you, this book is not for the faint of heart! Three-quarters into it - sobbing to the point that I could no longer make out words on the page - I nearly decided to put the book down and never open it again. Maybe my eye-opening experience into the realities women of Afghanistan face, in our modern day, was too shocking. Perhaps the heartbreak of a mother with children my age hit too close to home. Possibly a combination of the two. My mind raced back to the scriptural account when Enoch is conversing with God face-to-face, and he witnesses our Father weeping for His children (Moses 7:28-33). And, yet, for my own emotional closure, I found myself engrossed once again in its final pages.
However, Hosseini closes the novel, filling the reader with hope and inspiration. I am filled with gratitude for the freedoms I enjoy - and often take foregranted - because of the country in which I was born. My desperate yearning for my children to know how much I love them leaves me clinging on just a little longer with each hug and caress. Strength and security in knowing that my husband not only loves, but honors and cherishes me, has deepened. One cannot read this book without gaining truer perspective of blessings and the richness of life.
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When I read this book a couple of years ago, I couldn't put it down when I got about a hundred pages from the end. I gave the kids whatever they wanted and told them not to talk to me until I finished. It is probably the most intense book I've ever read. If you liked it, you'll also like The Kite Runner--same author, but different story line.
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