A Thousand Splendid Suns vs All the Light We Cannot See: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Historical Fiction, Fiction
A Thousand Splendid Suns
“Mariam was five years old the first time she heard the word harami.”
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After 103 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and with four million copies of The Kite Runner shipped, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the…
All the Light We Cannot See
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From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- A Thousand Splendid Suns is the quickest read — about 7 hours vs 10 for All the Light We Cannot See.
- All the Light We Cannot See has the widest readership — 2061893 ratings behind its score.
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How to choose
Scores by source
| A Thousand Splendid Suns | All the Light We Cannot See | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 4.3 (2061893) |
| Hardcover | 4.3 (1082) | — |
| Google Books | — | 4.5 (4) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (3184) | 4.5 (11862) |
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Reception
| A Thousand Splendid Suns | All the Light We Cannot See | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 3184 | 2061893 |
| Editions | 61 | 72 |
| Film adaptations | — | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 2133539 |
| Reading it now | — | 119150 |
| Written reviews | — | 128411 |
| Wikipedia attention | 23679 | 29517 |
| Pages | 404 | 544 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: A Thousand Splendid Suns or All the Light We Cannot See?
A Thousand Splendid Suns has the higher combined reader rating across sources (A Thousand Splendid Suns 4.4/5, All the Light We Cannot See 4.3/5).
Which is shorter to read: A Thousand Splendid Suns or All the Light We Cannot See?
A Thousand Splendid Suns is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: A Thousand Splendid Suns (404 pages, ≈ 7 h 29 m); All the Light We Cannot See (544 pages, ≈ 10 h 04 m).
Which is harder to read: A Thousand Splendid Suns or All the Light We Cannot See?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — A Thousand Splendid Suns: Moderate; All the Light We Cannot See: Moderate.
Have both books been made into films?
A Thousand Splendid Suns: no film adaptation on record; All the Light We Cannot See: 1 film adaptation.