A Thousand Splendid Suns LRB #2

"A Thousand Splendid Suns", by Khaled Hosseini, is centered in the country of Afghanistan. In the second part of the book, ranging from pages 153 to 272, the books centers around a girl by the name of Laila. Part two begins with Laila as a young girl. Her best friend Tariq is out of town, and she is worried sick about him returning safely. Then he comes back. The story continues on as the child grows older. Sometimes there is even small mentions of Mariam. However, she is not the focus right now. When Laila reaches the ago of fourteen, Tariq is sixteen, the two decide to have a secret fling. It is a romance that makes your heart skip a beat. It's so cute. They meet in alleys and sneak around. Tariq even tells Laila that he only has eyes for her. How precious! So anyway the two are doing their own little thing, but Tariq is hiding a secret from Laila. His family is leaving Kabul because of all of the fighting. When he finally tells Laila it's after the two have already made love to each other. Which is so sad. He tries to get her to go with him, but she refuses. She can't leave her father. So she stays and he leaves. The saddest thing ever. Two weeks after he leaves her mother agrees to leave. They are packing up their things, when a stray missile hits her house. It kills her father and her mother, and almost kills her. Did I mention that her mother is crazy? Well she is. Also, her brothers are dead. So anyway she gets hit by junk, and she is in rough shape. Then comes Rasheed and Mariam to the rescue. They take her in, and begin nursing her back to health. End of part two.