A Thousand Splendid Suns: Part 4–Afterword

by Khaled Hosseini
Mariam and Laila belong to different generations, but they develop a deep bond as their home city of Kabul, Afghanistan becomes more dangerous.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4–Afterword

Here is a link to our lists for The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. broach
    bring up a topic for discussion
    He would not have to broach with Tariq the delicate matter of an unmarried couple living in his hotel.
  2. enormity
    vastness of size or extent
    But that first night the enormity of it all stole the words from her.
  3. bemoan
    regret strongly
    She likes the souvenir shops, and the various hotels that house tourists, even as the locals bemoan the constant construction, the expansion of infrastructure that they say is eating away at Murree’s natural beauty.
  4. venomous
    marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful
    But these overtures are dismissed by Zalmai unceremoniously, sometimes venomously.
  5. abhor
    feel hatred or disgust toward
    She abhors this task, abhors herself for lying like this to a child.
  6. samovar
    a metal urn with a spigot at the base
    He will not spot his father any longer at traffic lights, in stooping old men shuffling down the street or sipping tea in open-fronted samovar houses.
  7. meander
    move or cause to move in a winding or curving course
    And one day it will hit him, walking along some meandering river, or gazing out at an untracked snowfield, that his father’s disappearance is no longer an open, raw wound.
  8. revere
    regard with feelings of respect
    That it has become something else altogether, something more soft-edged and indolent. Like a lore. Something to be revered, mystified by.
  9. furrow
    make or become wrinkled or creased
    Massoud leaning forward, one eyebrow cocked, his face furrowed in concentration, as though he was respectfully listening to someone.
  10. raze
    tear down so as to make flat with the ground
    Massoud’s violent end brings her no joy, but she remembers too well the neighborhoods razed under his watch, the bodies dragged from the rubble, the hands and feet of children discovered on rooftops or the high branch of some tree days after their funeral.
  11. concierge
    a caretaker in an apartment complex or hotel
    In the corner, facing the couches, is a television, and Sayeed, the concierge, and several guests are gathered in front of.
  12. billow
    rise up as if in waves
    On the screen is a building, a tower, black smoke billowing from its top floors.
  13. relinquish
    release, as from one's grip
    The Taliban have announced that they won’t relinquish bin Laden because he is a mehman, a guest, who has found sanctuary in Afghanistan and it is against the Pashtunwali code of ethics to turn over a guest.
  14. distortion
    the act of twisting something out of its true meaning
    Tariq chuckles bitterly, and Laila hears in his chuckle that he is revolted by this distortion of an honorable Pashtun custom, this misrepresentation of his people’s ways.
  15. allay
    lessen the intensity of or calm
    Her anxieties, that their life together is a temporary blessing, that soon it will come loose again in strips and tatters, are allayed.
  16. rankle
    make resentful or angry
    But it rankles Laila, what Tariq is saying.
  17. hypocritical
    professing feelings or virtues one does not have
    It’s hard to rejoice. It seems hypocritical, perverse.
  18. cumbersome
    difficult to handle or use, especially because of size or weight
    The work is not cumbersome, and, on their days off, she and Tariq take the children to ride the chairlift to Patriata hill, or go to Pindi Point, where, on a clear day, you can see as far as Islamabad and downtown Rawalpindi.
  19. interim
    the time between one event, process, or period and another
    The country has an interim president now, Hamid Karzai.
  20. nostalgia
    a longing for something past
    But it isn’t mere homesickness or nostalgia that has Laila thinking of Kabul so much these days.
  21. ravage
    cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
    The wars in Afghanistan have ravaged the roads connecting Kabul, Herat, and Kandahar.
  22. immaculate
    completely neat and clean
    When the bus passes the shrine to Imam Reza, the eighth Shi’a imam, Laila cranes her neck to get a better view of its glistening tiles, the minarets, the magnificent golden dome, all of it immaculately and lovingly preserved.
  23. collapse
    cause to burst
    For three days, hamshira, they fired on the city. They collapsed buildings, destroyed one of the minarets, killed thousands of people.
  24. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    Outside the kolbas, Laila sees sunburned women cooking, their faces sweating in steam rising from big blackened pots set on makeshift firewood grills.
  25. mausoleum
    a large burial chamber, usually above ground
    The driver takes a turn, and they pass a cemetery with a weather-worn mausoleum in the center of it.
  26. oblong
    deviating from a shape by being elongated in one direction
    They sit by the open window, on either side of an oblong patch of sunlight.
  27. flank
    be located at the sides of something or somebody
    After fifteen minutes or so, he points to a narrow gap in the tall grass that flanks the road on both sides.
  28. kaleidoscope
    a complex pattern of constantly changing colors and shapes
    On either side of them is a kaleidoscope of wildflowers swaying in the wind, some tall with curved petals, others low, fan-leafed.
  29. turbulence
    instability in the atmosphere
    A woman who will be like a rock in a riverbed, enduring without complaint, her grace not sullied but shaped by the turbulence that washes over her.
  30. unyielding
    stubbornly unwilling to give in
    Something as hard and unyielding as a block of limestone.
  31. salvation
    rescuing or protecting someone or something from harm
    Something that, in the end, will be her undoing and Laila’s salvation.
  32. splatter
    dash a liquid upon or against
    There is mud on the streets now. Shoes squish. Cars get trapped. Donkeys loaded with apples slog heavily, their hooves splattering muck from rain puddles.
  33. mourn
    feel sadness
    But no one is complaining about the mud, no one is mourning Titanic City.
  34. sodden
    wet through and through; thoroughly wet
    The rain flattened Aziza’s long hair, turned it into sodden tendrils that sprayed Zalmai when she snapped her head.
  35. amputee
    someone who has had a limb surgically removed
    Tariq has found work with a French NGO that fits land mine survivors and amputees with prosthetic limbs.
  36. teeming
    abundantly filled with especially living things
    The streets are busy already, teeming with a steady stream of rickshaws, taxicabs, UN trucks, buses, ISAF jeeps.
  37. sapling
    young tree
    Every day now she sees people planting saplings, painting old houses, carrying bricks for new ones.
  38. slay
    kill intentionally and with premeditation
    It slays Laila. It slays her that the warlords have been allowed back to Kabul.
  39. posh
    elegant and fashionable
    That her parents’ murderers live in posh homes with walled gardens, that they have been appointed minister of this and deputy minister of that, that they ride with impunity in shiny, bulletproof SUVs through neighborhoods that they demolished.
  40. brandish
    exhibit aggressively
    Many of the drawings depict tanks running over huts, men brandishing AK-47s, refugee camp tents, scenes of jihad.
  41. grieve
    feel intense sorrow, especially due to a loss
    If a flood should arrive, to drown all that’s alive,
    Noah is your guide in the typhoon’s eye, grieve not.
  42. anarchy
    a state of lawlessness and disorder
    War, hunger, anarchy, and oppression forced millions of people to abandon their homes and flee Afghanistan to settle in neighboring Pakistan and Iran.
  43. exodus
    a journey by a large group to escape from a hostile environment
    At the height of the exodus, as many as eight million Afghans were living abroad as refugees.
  44. philanthropic
    of or relating to charitable giving
    The foundation has also partnered with schools across the United States through the SOS program (Student Outreach for Shelters), encouraging the philanthropic impulses of young students and engaging with them to raise funds for the building of shelters for returnees in Afghanistan.
  45. herculean
    extremely difficult; requiring great strength
    The rebuilding needs of Afghanistan are great, and containing the tide of human suffering there is a task of herculean proportion.
Created on Wed Oct 19 20:19:05 EDT 2016 (updated Mon Jul 30 16:50:31 EDT 2018)

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