A lot has gone by...

My last post found me at page 94 in my outside reading book, I am now on page 224, and a lot has happened. So far, I have only talked about Mariam and her troubles, but the beginning of Part II introduced a new character; Laila. When she is very young, Laila's two older brothers leave to join the army, and are eventually killed. Both of these events send Laila's mother - Mammy - into a deep depression, and she does not help take care of Laila for a long time. In her later years, Laila discovers her love for her best childhood friend, Tariq. They become romantically involved, and we find out later that Laila becomes pregnant. Mammy has since come out of her depression, because the Najibullah surrendered.

Unfortunately, warring Afghani groups bring violence to Kabul. There are daily bombings and shootings. Everybody familiar to Laila is either killed or flees. Her best friend Gita is killed in a bombing, while Tariq and her other best friend run from Kabul. The bombing that hits close to home however is the one that hits her home. The day that Laila, her mother, and her father are to flee their home, a bomb hits their home, killing her parents, and injuring Laila. Rasheed, Mariam's husband, finds her and brings her to his home. While recovering at Mariam's home, a man comes and informs Laila that Tariq, who's baby she carries, was killed in a bombing. Laila is devastated. To add to all of this tragedy, she if forced to marry Rasheed, because if he finds that she is pregnant, he will certainly kick her out of his home.

I find this book amazing, and impossible to put down, because all of this misfortune is experienced by people on a daily basis in real life.