A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS: ONLINE LITERATURE NOTES

CHAPTER 39: Mariam, September 1997

Summary

Rasheed and Mariam take Laila to the hospital to give birth, only to discover that it no longer treats women. There is only one hospital in the entire city that does treat women - Rabia Balkhi which has no clean water, no oxygen, no medications, and no electricity. When the crowd groans and cries out in disgust, the Talib fires his rifle into the air and another one brandishes a whip. So Mariam, Laila, and Rasheed head for that hospital.

When they arrive, the waiting room is teeming with women. Mariam helps Laila sit down against a wall and promises her that she’ll get her seen by a doctor. She wades into the crowd and fights against elbows and arms to get to the front. Now she knows what sacrifices a mother makes. She understands what Nana had endured - the shame of bearing.........

Notes

The true outrage of the Taliban’s war against women is seen in this chapter where Laila is forced to endure the unbelievable pain of.........

CHAPTER 40: Laila, Fall 1999

Summary

It is Mariam’s idea to dig a hole, but she and Laila have a very difficult time doing it because of the drought. The drought started in 1998 and made life even more of a problem for people surrounded by war. The shallow wells quickly dried up and the there were long lines at the deep wells. The two women waited hours for their turn. There were no spring floods, because there hadn’t been much snow the winter before. As a result, the Kabul River dried up. Poor Mariam is now forty, but looks much older. She has deep pouches under her eyes and she has lost her two front teeth, the result of..........

Notes

This chapter reveals life in the house with Rasheed spoiling his new son to the detriment of the boy and the rest of..........

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A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini: Free BookNotes Summary

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