Today, I began the most wonderful book.Yesterday I began the book, but it does not count. I did not actually focus on every detail, and pay attention to what was happening. So, I re-started, from the beginning. I had to give this book a chance, and now I am obsessed. I know forty-six pages is not that much, but sometimes I like to go back and read a part I just read again, in order for me to fully understand what is going on. Also, the fact that so much went on during those forty six pages. This book has a way with words, ones that make you sad, and maybe happy...but I have not experienced any happy feelings yet.
Mariam, a little girl, was loved dearly by her mother, Nana. She never received affection from her mom, her mom never showed it. Then there is Jalil, Mariam's father. He has three wives, and with those wives he has eleven children. One of those children being Mariam, but Nana and Jalil were never married. She was his servant before Miriam was born. Nana disliked him very much, he disowned Mariam and her mother when she gave birth. But Mariam adores him, she anxiously waits for him every Thursday to see him. She loved spending those two hours with him. Mariam did not always believe stories her mom told her, but she always believed Jalil's stories. One of the flashback stories that her mother told that was very upsetting, was the time she gave birth to Mariam. Jalil left to go horseback riding. Nana was alone, on the cold floor of the kolba(cottage), pushing for two days for Mariam to come out. She mentioned she had a knife with her, she used it to cut the umbilical chord that attached them. She mentioned that he did not come to see Mariam until she was one month old. Even then, all he would do was hold her, then hand her back. The stories he told her about the birth and other situations were complete opposite.
The one thing Nana always told Mariam was, I'll die if you go. I'll just die. The words I had to keep in mind as I continued to read after reading those words. Mariam left to Herat, where her dad lived. It was not too far from her kolba. She went to go meet him, so they can go to the movies together, as he promised. There she was in her best clothes, waiting outside his house for him to come. He never showed. Now she knew what type of father he was. Always abandoning her. Time went by, the day got darker. Jalil's driver decided to take Mariam back home. As he walked her to her towards her home, he told her to turn away, and turn back with him. But he was too late, Mariam already saw. She saw her mom hanging on rope that was tied to a high branch. Nana had killed herself. The words, I'll die if you go. I'll just die, that Nana told Mariam were true, since Mariam left to Herat, Nana died. Mariam was all she had.
Now Mariam lives with her father, and his three other wives and children. She was always alone upstairs in her room. She knew that he took her in insincerely. A week went by and one of his wives, Afsoon, came upstairs to her and told her to come down because they all had something important to tell her. What they told her was they found her a suitor, Rasheed was his name. He was in his forties, and she was only fifteen. Mariam knew they wanted her out, they made her seem like a burden.
That's all I got to so far, but now I know that I should have never refused this book when my sisters told me to read it.
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