The First 50 Pages

 I chose to read A Thousand Splendid Suns because it was suggested and seemed interesting the way a friend described it to me. The first 50 pages were very riveting and just a entertaining book. It all starts with a young girl whose name is Mariam who lives with her mom and suffers neglect and shame. Her father who has 3 wives including her mother visits Mariam every Thursday. She talks nothing but good things about her father while her mother talks down on him saying he’s a no good father and doesn’t care one bit about her. Mariam has never been outside her village, seen a movie, or even ever had friends her age. She’s always been isolated with her mother , because her mother says she doesn’t need nobody but her. One day Mariam asked her father to take her to watch a movie at his cinema for her 15th birthday. She waited patiently hour after hour but no sign of him. So she walked to his house about a kilometer away. He ‘wasn’t’ home so she slept outside his house waiting for him but never did come. His chauffeur once insisted he’d take her home and he did. Once she arrived she came home to see her own mother hung by a tree. She felt as if is was her fault and she should’ve never gone and waste her time on a man who didn’t care showing up for a promise he made. She then lived with her father but weeks later they found a suitor 30 yrs older than her because he’s wives wanted her gone. She was a ‘disgrace’, a ‘mistake’ and just brought shame to them. Mariam later realized her mom was right. Why had she defended a man who then sent her away to live with a man she didn’t love when there were other options. At the end of those 50 pages she then told her dad she never wants to see him again or hear from him. I personally feel her regret and anger. I’m glad I chose this book and I’ll see what more it has throughout the novel.