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Jamie (131 KP) rated A Thousand Splendid Suns in Books

May 24, 2017  
A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini | 2008 | Fiction & Poetry
10
9.3 (23 Ratings)
Book Rating
Beautifully written (0 more)
Events that seem over dramatic or outlandish in the later parts of the book (0 more)
An eye opening and jarring exploration into the plight of women in the middle east
If I had to pick one word to sum up this book: it would be powerful. I thought that The Kite Runner was an emotional roller coaster, A Thousand Splendid Suns leaves its predecessor in the dust. This book made me smile, it made me cry, and at times I became so violently angry over the cruel circumstances faced by the book’s heroines that I had to put it down for a while to calm myself. The story utterly destroyed me and shook me to my core. It is rare indeed for a book to make me feel such a wide variety of emotions.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a beautiful historical fiction set to the backdrop in a war torn Afghanistan fresh off the fall of Najibullah’s government. The book takes us through the violent struggle between rival militias that eventually leads to the rise of the Taliban. The story follows first a young girl named Mariam, a bastard child forced with her abusive mother to live secluded in the countryside. Later she is forced into marriage with a much older man obsessed with having another son. The story then picks up with the birth of another young girl named Laila. The book continues to switch narratives between the two women until they are eventually brought together by circumstance. Together the girls face immeasurable hardship, vividly showing the dreadful reality for many women in the middle east.

The overall tone of the novel is intense, with the story taking many heart-wrenching turns. It opened my eyes to a part of the world that I had previously known little about. My childhood in the 1990’s was comfortable and safe, a far cry from the horrors faced by women and children during the same time period on the other side of the globe; it was like stepping into another world.

I’ve found that twice now, I liked the first half of Khaled Hosseini’s books better than the second half. The later plot lines usually seem a little far-fetched to me, but it doesn’t change the overall satisfaction I get from the book. The book covers the topics of the relationship between women, a perfect compliment to The Kite Runner‘s themes of relationships between men. This beautiful book is a masterpiece and the very best of Hosseini’s work. Be prepared to cry though, this one is hard on the emotions.
  
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Jamie (131 KP) rated Dead by Daylight in Video Games

Jul 15, 2017  
Dead by Daylight
Dead by Daylight
2016 | Action
8
8.0 (11 Ratings)
Video Game Rating Watch
Genuinely fun & thrilling (2 more)
Survive with Friends & Kill Your Friends modes are both fun
Steep learning curve that rewards skilled players
Riddled with bugs and easily exploited (2 more)
Toxic community
Useless ranking system
Fun horror themed multiplayer action
It's been almost a year since DBD was first released and for me it's been a year of both joy and frustration. I love the game, it's still one of my favorites, and it's an absolute blast to play with friends. The developers have made signifcant progress since launch in terms of fixing bugs, rebalancing mechanics, and adding content both to keep the game fresh but also to improve the quality of life for both survivors and killers. When I first started it was genuinely tense until I got used to the game, and the Halloween update last year brought back the old scares at least for a little while even for relatively seasoned players. It's nice to see that the dev team is still actively working on the game.

With that said, while I recommend this game I do so cautiously. On release the game was riddled with bugs and had serious issues with the queue system, and while some of the issues with both of those things have been fixed there are still some glaring problems that don't seem to have any easy fixes. The game can be easy to abuse and there have been problems in the past with cheaters and bots (thankfully not so much anymore). Game lobbies are peer to peer which means that survivors will be at the mercy of the other person's internet connection. There is a ranking system that means next to nothing as there are no end of season rewards, just a steam achievement and bragging rights.

Add in the fact that this game is extremely competitive, you'll pretty regularly run into some salty people. You get killers that camp, survivors that abuse infinites, and on occasion the random angry messages and trash talk on steam. A good number of the folks I used to play with ended up rage quitting for one reason or another, so this game can have that effect on folks.

Overall though, I still enjoy DBD on occasion, I like to see the new stuff that gets added or fixed. While the bugs, occasional long queue times, and lag can be extremely frustrating at times I feel that the good outweighs the bad. As long as you don't take it too seriously and just have fun it can be a really enjoyable, especially with the right people.