Hosseini, Khaled: *1965

A Thousand Splendid Suns, 2007 - Background

  • Afghanistan
  • Taliban
  • Buddhist Caves of Bamiyan
  • Treatment of Women
  • Books on Maltreating Women
    • Mukhtar Mai: In the Name of Honor: A Memoir, 2006
      Mai, a 32-year-old Pakistani peasant, was condemned by her village tribal council in 2002 to be gang-raped. The punishment was provoked by an accusation that her younger brother, 12 years old, had seduced an older woman. The accusation was untrue, but it still held the power to destroy the family honor. After her rape by four men, rather than disappear in humiliation or commit suicide--her first impulse--Mai fought to maintain her dignity and to protect other women from abusive traditions. She asserted humanity for herself and other women by suing the council before the supreme court of Pakistan, winning, and using the funds to start a school for girls. In this amazing collaboration with reporter Cuny, who specializes in covering women's issues and who recorded hours of conversation, Mai presents a portrait of determination in overcoming low caste status and stifling tradition. This inspirational story, which attracted international attention, is all the more powerful told in Mai's own words. Vanessa Bush Copyright © American Library Association.
    • Marina Nemat: Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir, 2007
      In Tehran in the early 1980s, after she leads a strike in high school to get her math teacher to teach calculus not politics, Marina, 16, a practicing Catholic, is locked up for two years and tortured with her school friends in the Ayatollah Khomeini's notorious Evin political prison. She is saved from execution by an interrogator, Ali, who wants to marry her and threatens to hurt her family and Catholic boyfriend, Andre, if she refuses. Forced to convert to Islam, she becomes Ali's wife; then he is assassinated by political rivals, and she rejoins her family and marries Andre. They immigrate to Canada in 1991. For more than 20 years, secure in her middle-class life, she keeps silent, until she writes this unforgettable memoir. Copyright © Reed Business Information.
  • Honor Killing
    • Honor Killing. Britannica
    • Pakistan honor killing - very shocking pictures. Channel 4; February 22, 2013