A Thousand Splendid Suns is yet another exceptional tale by Khaled Husseini, the author of the New York Times best seller, The Kite Runner.

Set in the backdrop of three decades of civil unrest in Afghanistan, the story centers around two extraordinary characters Mariam and Laila. Mariam is introduced in the story first as an illegal child living in the outskirts of Herat, a small city in Afghanistan, with her bitter, forlorn mother. She is a self willed, jovial character; her hopes buoyed by her father, an established man of the city, who comes to visit every week. But her life quickly turns from bad to worse when she is forced to marry a man more than twice her age. From here onwards, Mariam's character is on a rapid downward path.

It is now that Husseini introduces Laila, who is many years younger than Mariam. She belongs to the new generation while Mariam is from the old school. Laila lives with an educated, liberal father and a dominating mother in the capital Kabul. Through this family, Husseini tries to show the other side of Afghani lifestyle, a more modern, liberal one. Not all Afghani men like to confine their women and prohibit them from acquiring education and a career. That's the idea that Husseini seems to project.

Laila is an enjoyable character, radiant and energetic, much like that of the old Mariam. Her best friend Tariq plays a pivotal role in the story. He is one-legged, through which Husseini aims to show the nasty effects of the violent invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR.

Throughout, Husseini keeps the reader aware of the rapidly changing political scenario in Afghanistan through discreet modes; characters hear bits of crucial information on the radio or a character brings it from outside. The Soviets have been defeated and gone back, the political parties are now fighting amongst themselves, the Taliban have take over with a new code of lifestyle and so on.

A strange twist of fate brings Laila and Mariam together as wives of the same man. But their misfortunes and the wrath of their common husband, the beastly Kabir, moves them from feeling an abhorrent indifference for each other to the beginning of forming a formidable friendship. The reader will pin many hopes on this alliance between the pivotal characters. It is a union of experience and wisdom (Mariam) with energy and ingenuity (Laila).

A lot of hype accompanied the release of Mamma Mia! – a movie based on the stage musical featuring the songs of the hugely successful Swedish pop band ABBA. With an all-star cast and music that still remains popular after more than three decades, the film seemed like a good idea theoretically. Then something went amiss: the movie was actually made.

Bound by possibly the flimsiest plot in the history of musicals, Mamma Mia! is the story of Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried) who is engaged to Sky (Dominic Cooper) and doesn't known who her father is, so she invites the three possible candidates Sam (Pierce Brosnan), Bill (Stellan Skarsgård) and Harry (Colin Firth) to her forthcoming wedding, without telling her mother Donna (Meryl Streep). They all like to sing ABBA songs, it turns out, and that's what they do throughout the film. Only, most of them – with the surprising exception of the relative newcomer Amanda Seyfried – can't really sing (and by the looks of it can't really act either). Everything from Meryl Streep's overacting to Pierce Brosnan's attempts at singing (appalling!!) lead one to the conclusion that a world where people break into song, that too of the ABBA variety, every two minutes would be a very, VERY scary place!

In an attempt to seem fun, the movie goes for being campy and in the process collapses on its own ridiculousness. The plot – if you can call it that – has so many holes in it that it puts a sieve to shame. The costumes are unflattering, the direction lacking, the whole project so flat that Stellan Skarsgård seems to have given up on the whole thing and Colin Firth just seems embarrassed to be there.