A Thousand Splendid Suns vs The Pearl: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Loss, Family relationships, 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…
The Pearl
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From Christy Award-winning author Angela Hunt comes a poignant and provocative story about loss, love, and the price of playing God.Diana Sheldon thought she had the perfect life--a thriving career as a radio counselor,…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate A Thousand Splendid Suns highest: A Thousand Splendid Suns 4.4 · The Pearl 3.6.
- The Pearl has the widest readership — 288090 ratings behind its score.
- The Pearl runs the darker storyline; A Thousand Splendid Suns stays the lighter read.
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How to choose
Scores by source
| A Thousand Splendid Suns | The Pearl | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 3.6 (288090) |
| Hardcover | 4.3 (1082) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (3184) | — |
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Reception
| A Thousand Splendid Suns | The Pearl | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 3184 | 288090 |
| Editions | 61 | 6 |
| Film adaptations | — | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 443 |
| Reading it now | — | 25 |
| Written reviews | — | 72 |
| Wikipedia attention | 23679 | 920 |
| Pages | 404 | 328 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: A Thousand Splendid Suns or The Pearl?
A Thousand Splendid Suns has the higher combined reader rating across sources (A Thousand Splendid Suns 4.4/5, The Pearl 3.6/5).
Which is shorter to read: A Thousand Splendid Suns or The Pearl?
The Pearl is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: The Pearl (328 pages, ≈ 6 h 04 m); A Thousand Splendid Suns (404 pages, ≈ 7 h 29 m).
Which is harder to read: A Thousand Splendid Suns or The Pearl?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — A Thousand Splendid Suns: Moderate; The Pearl: Moderate.