Expectation of the book

A Thousand Suns is surely a well-written book, but I am not really enjoying this kind of book because I enjoy science fiction novel more. The fact is that I have read half of the book years ago in mandarin, which I didn’t finish it. I did not quite get the deeper meaning of the book at that time.

Anyway, I will say the novel did reach my expectation because I get to learn about Afghanistan through a story in victims’ (Mariam and Laila’s perspectives) instead of just reading off a news article.

Moreover, I first expected that the book will be more about hopes at the beginning because the name and cover of the book. Sun is commonly seen as the symbol of hope and essence because almost many living things need it to survive; however, the fact is the protagonist (Mariam) met a turning point of her life, her journey of endurance.

Honestly, I didn’t really have an expectation before I read this book because I have no idea what I was about to read. So I am not really surprised to read a story about Afghanistan because the book cover was a woman in burqa, and only women from mid-west wore those (or those whom were Muslims).

The book actually turned out to be an interesting book to read, despite the fact that I am not living in that kind of society and country, which it usually turned out to be boring for most of the readers.

Reflection on the Word Cloud

I filled in the word cloud with symbols,themes, motif and big ideas of the book, such as burqa, religion causes the gender inequality, afghan women are not allowed to be educated, love, and etc. I have covered most of the themes, some big ideas and motifs in my word cloud.Not only that these are significant, but these elements helped creating the book's atmosphere and what made it such a good book.From reading this book, I learned a lot more about what happened in Afghanistan more than reading it off newspaper or magazine.

Referring back to the research I have done few week ago on the social history of Afghanistan, I have verified the plots that happened in the text are realistic and basing on facts. The fact is that I only know Afghanistan women are less respected than the men are and that is it; however, after I read this book and the websites I browsed, in which I found myself actually not knowing much about Afghanistan, until I read this book.