And of course, when her mother commits suicide, which was a very interesting thing when she leaves to go see her father and all of that, her mother commits suicide, like in those two days. And I know Mariam is like, I wonder what would have happened if I would have just gotten in the car and gone back home? I don't know
Fokish podcast thank you so much for getting this discussion started. I will start off with some context. The book is set in Afghanistan from the 19th to the 90s, spanning from the Soviet occupation of the country to the Taliban taking control, which gives the political backdrop to the narrative and moving on to themes while the oppression of women comes across as the main theme, what actually stood out for me was the resilience of the human spirit against all odds
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 2:39
I think he also has such a strong understanding of how the female mind works, and he has effortlessly with the characters of a couple of strong female leads in the book as well, like the three wives of Mariam's father, who very shrewdly take charge of the situation and make sure that she is sent away. And also Fariba a neighbor who seems to be so strong will and is used to speaking her mind
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
So as I said, I'm back with lines from the book that have kind of stayed on with me long after I've left the pages. So a couple of lines I would like to quote, Here are one is from Mariam's mom. And she goes, Learn this now and learn it well, like a Compass facing north. A man's accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember, remember that Mariam
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 4:28
So that's, like a lot of time that could have gone into books reading. And I was hoping to have started part two discussion by now, but I promise I should be on target for part two discussion. God willing for this Saturday. I'm going to do my darnedest to get you guys started on that. But, no, this is great. I'm loving all the comments. Please keep it coming. I love the quotes. I love what you guys about Husseini
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:43
And I'm listening to the book, but turn the pages, which we can say. So I'm wondering from the perspective of all of you by the end of Part one, what do you feel like your biggest questions are for the rest of the book
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 1:51
At the end of part one, my questions were, what does the future hold for Mariam? And, you know, it just becomes this, okay. You could have ended it there. And this is how long life, which would be like what even as a short story or even as a novella. So the other question that came to mind is from a writer's point of view, is how is Husseini going to raise the stakes? How is he going to hurt Mariam more?
So Rachel, at the end of book one, I was kind of having getting this feeling that, you know, Mariam right now is at the edge of the cliff, and she has just two options. Either go right down, go crashing down and have her life much worse than what she's been having so far, or the only other way is to soar upwards
In terms of structure, Rachel, one thing that really struck me and which I really loved about the writing style, was Husseini's Liberal use of, you know, imagery and symbolism through the narrative. One very good example I can give is the part where Russia actually has to force the wedding ring onto William's finger. It's a sign of things to come in the days ahead. So I think that's a brilliant bit of imagery there