One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.
A drought began in 2000, and hunger took over their lives. All they had to eat was rice. Sometimes Rasheed brought home stolen cans of brittle sardines and apples. Which was always risky, because those who get caught stealing, gets their hand cut off. Aziza's ribs began to show, her chubby cheeks started to vanish, and her complexion changed. Since they did not have enough food to provide for the family, Rasheed made Laila put Aziza in an orphanage. This orphanage had rice and bread to feed for Aziza, more than what Rasheed provided for the family. Laila hated the feeling as if she was abandoning her child. Aziza did not know it was orphanage, she was told told it was a special school. This special school was torn apart. Weeds were covering the grass, old tires laying around, and a damaged swing set. The windows were covered in plastic, and the place smelled of ammonia and urine. When Laila left, Aziza was screaming and crying for her mother. Laila promised to visit her everyday, and she did. Evey time Laila visited Aziza, she noticed little changes. There was dirt under her fingernails, she was always tucking her hands under her thighs, and she developed a stutter. When they came back from visiting Aziza, Zalmai was yelling saying there was a man at the door. Laila looked where he was pointing...standing there was Tariq. She was in shock, all she knew what to do was run to him. Laila found out that Rasheed set the whole thing up. He hired a man to tell Laila saying that Tariq was killed and legless, in order to get them separated from each other. They talked about life and the changes that went along with it. Laila told him she wanted him to meet Aziza, his daughter. But before that happened, Zalmai told on Laila to Rasheed that she had been having Tariq over at the house. Rasheed decided to punish her. He locked Zalmai upstairs in his room, and with force walked back downstairs to Mariam and Laila. When he came down, they saw that he had his belt with him. He grabbed Laila and began swinging the belt. She tried to shield herself, but he was too fast. Laila touched her temples, looked down at her hands, and saw blood. Laila was running frantically around the room as Rasheed continued to whip her. She ducked and punched him in the ear. He caught her and threw her against the wall. Rasheed continued hitting her with the belt, while the buckle was hitting against her chest. Blood came running down wherever she was hit. As Rasheed turned around, Laila threw glass at his face, leaving a gash on his face. He pushed her to the ground with his hands around her neck. Laila's face began to turn blue. Mariam knew she had to do something. She went to the tool shed and grabbed a shovel. She called his name to get his attention, when he looked, she hit him across the temple with the shovel. Mariam raised the shovel, with the point vertically pointing to Rasheed. Right then and there, Rasheed took his last breath.
Mariam was left with such guilt for what she had done. She took away Zalmai's father, the one who he always laughed with. Laila brought home Aziza, and she knew she was ready to leave. Her plan was for her, Tariq, Mariam, Aziza, and Zalmai to leave to a safer place. But Mariam refused. She told them to go. Thinking that she did not deserve to be safe after what she had done. And that was the way it went. Mariam stayed alone in the house. She later confessed and went to jail. Mariam plead guilty to killing Rasheed. Her punishment was death. Before getting executed, she remember her life. She thought of Laila, Aziza, and Zalmai. Knowing that she would no longer see them, ever. She asked for forgiveness from the Lord. The man told her to kneel and look down, and that was the last time she did what she was told.
As for Laila and Tariq, they were now husband and wife, with a daughter and son. Later on after living in Murree, Laila told tariq that she wanted to move back to Kabul. The fighting had stopped, which made Kabul safe. Laila said she was only going if he came too. His response to her was, "I'll follow you to the end of the world, Laila." But before their journey to Kabul, Laila wanted to stop in Herat, to see where Mariam lived. She first went to go see Mariam's dad, but found out that he had died. She asked Jalil's son to take her to Mariam's kolba. When she arrived at Mariam's house, she imagined Mariam inside of it. Always waiting to see her dad every Thursday and playing with her dolls. When Laila went back to the car, Jalil's son said that he left a box for Mariam. He never opened it, but told Laila that it was God's will for her to open it. As she was opening it, she saw a tape, burlap sack, and a letter. She read the letter from Jalil to Mariam, and it said how guitly he had felt for abandoning her. For not letting her live with him. He said that he did not deserve her, but he wanted her to know she was a good daughter. He hoped that Mariam would be alive while reading the letter. Unfortunately that was not the case.
Life for Laila, Tariq, Aziza, and Zalmai, was everything she hoped it would be. She became a teacher at the orphanage. She fixed it up, making it perfect. As she was walking to her desk, she was thinking about the naming game that Tariq, Zalmai, Aziza, and herself would play during dinner. Tariq likes the name Mohammad, Zalmai likes Clark, Aziza likes Aman, and Laila likes Omar. But the game only involved boy names. Because if it was a girl, Laila has already named her.
I absolutely loved this book, I never wanted it to end (The reason why I read it so slow). This book is by far the best book I have read. It had a wonderful ending that I was content with. But the only thing that would have made it better was if Miriam was still alive and with them.
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