Books by author: Khaled Hosseini

I recently joined a book club, and this was the first pick. It made for interesting discussion, but I didn't care that much for the book itself. It was very interesting to read about an Afghani protagonist, and to learn about life in Afghanistan under the Taliban, but the writing is uneven, and there are a couple of really annoying scenes, including a "deathbed conversion" to Islam, and a fist-fight to the death.

A little over a year ago, my book club read The Kite Runner as its first selection. I didn't care for it that much, and I certainly didn't want to endure Hosseini's amateurish writing again, but I was overruled and the book club picked A Thousand Splendid Suns.

I was pleasantly surprised. A Thousand Splendid Suns is a much more compelling book than its precursor. The characters are more nuanced, the story has a better-structured arc, and the descriptions are richer. I think Hosseini may actually be a good writer and The Kite Runner simply suffered from being exploded from a short story into a full-length novel.