Fariba becomes depressed and locks herself in her room to grieve in peace; she starts to neglect her husband and refuses to take proper care of Laila. Fariba knows that what she's doing is wrong and hurts her family, but she can't find the strength or the motivation to change. It's not until Laila is in danger and almost dies that Fariba decides that she must stop grieving and neglecting her family and tries to leave Afghanistan to save herself and her husband and daughter.

Out of all the characters in Hosseini's critically acclaimed debut novel The Kite Runner, I'd say that Fariba is most similar to Baba. Just like Fariba, Baba is also confident and has an independent spirit, but he is also a parent who neglects his biological son, Hassan. When Hassan and his wife are killed for not allowing the Taliban to confiscate Baba'a home, Baba realizes that he shouldn't have treated Hassan the way he did and knows that he will have to live with the guilt of having never acknowledged and loved Hassan as his son.

Baba loses his son just like Fariba lost her two boys, and he tries to redeem himself by leaving everything behind to give his son Amir a chance to have a good life in America. Unlike Fariba, however, Baba succeeds in his plans and settles in America. Never forgetting about Hassan, Baba tries to be a better father to Amir and develops a loving relationship with him.

In McCullough's 1977 best-selling family drama The Thorn Birds, Fariba doesn't really share any personality traits with any of the characters; however, it might be argued that she is somewhat similar to Fiona. Fiona is a strong-willed woman who prefers her son Frank over her daughter, Maggie, but the love she feels for Frank is real. At one point, Fiona says that she has lost her son in the "worst way a mother could." The love she feels for her son and the pain she feels after she realizes that she might not see him ever again are, in fact, the only things that she shares with Fariba.

Unlike Fariba and Baba, Fiona doesn't change and doesn't try to redeem herself; she fails to realize that she is actually selfish and maybe even cruel and firmly believes that she didn't do anything wrong.

Mullah Faizullah is comparable to Dane Cleary in The Thorn Birds and Rahim Khan in The Kite Runner. Mullah Faizullah teaches Miriam passages of the Koran and Muslim prayers. He is the only positive role model in Miriam's life and functions as her conscience. She never sees him again after she leaves Kabul, yet his teachings guide Miriam throughout her life.

Similarly, Dane is a source of guidance and emotional support for his sister Justine. Although Justine is not particularly religious, Dane's unconditional love makes up for her mother Meggie's favoritism toward Dane. Dane eventually joins the Catholic Church and is described by Cardinal Ralph as the "perfect priest." Shortly after becoming a priest, Dane goes to Greece alone, planning to return to the Vatican afterward to begin his priesthood. Dane succeeds in rescuing two women from drowning and ends up drowning himself. This sacrifice transforms Dane into a martyr-like figure.

Rahim Khan is a father figure for Amir, who struggles to communicate with an emotionally distant Baba. Rahim informs Amir that Hassan has a son named Sohrab and that Hassan and his wife were killed by the Taliban. He convinces and helps Amir rescue Sohrab from the Taliban. Throughout adulthood, Amir was plagued by regret for having stood by as Hassan was raped by Assef when they were children. Assef joins the Taliban and goes on to rape Sohrab. By rescuing the boy and later adopting him, Amir is redeemed for his betrayal of Sohrab when they were children.

Hakim in A Thousand Splendid Suns is seen principally through his effect on Laila as a kind and supportive father who is deeply committed to his daughter's education. Hakim tells Laila that she will play a vital role in the future of her country and does everything he can to nurture her in preparation for this, as well as passing on his knowledge and experience.

In The Kite Runner, Amir's father, Baba, a wealthy businessman, is a rather forbidding figure who does little to support his son. Instead, Amir turns to his father's mild-mannered business partner, Rahim Khan, who encourages his writing, listens to him, and supports him as his father does not. Rahim Khan is one of the most thoughtful characters in the novel and is close to being its moral center. He is therefore the closest parallel to Hakim.

The closest character to Hakim in The Thorn Birds is Archbishop (later Cardinal) Vittorio di Contini Verchese. Vittorio is a Father in the sense of being a Catholic priest, which prevents him from being a literal father like Hakim but allows him to take a kindly paternal interest in the life and progress of Ralph de Bricassart. He is also a generous, modest, and self-effacing person, mainly notable for how much he cares for others, Ralph in particular.

Jalil Khan is the patriarch of a large family and a wealthy, well-respected man. His illegitimate daughter is a source of shame for him, hence his refusal to acknowledge her. Although he visits Mariam each week, he feels guilty, finally apologizing to her and seeking her forgiveness, which she withholds.

There are no exact parallels to Jalil Khan in either The Kite Runner or The Thorn Birds. One would not expect a character to share his personality, his status, and his function in the novel. However, taken overall, the closest character to Jalil Khan in The Kite Runner is Baba. Baba shares Jalil Khan's high status, though he is a more heroic figure and less of a plutocrat. He has a difficult relationship with his son Amir and despite his being a widely-admired example to others, ultimately fails as a father.

In The Thorn Birds, the choice of a parallel figure to Jalil Khan is even more contentious. Paddy Cleary is the obvious patriarchal figure. He is perhaps the character who most resembles Jalil Khan in terms of his role in the narrative. However, the two are not similar in terms of personality, and even their circumstances are not particularly similar apart from their role as father of a family. Luke O'Neill is also a possible parallel, but he is a much more villainous and intentionally abusive character than Jalil Khan. The same is true of Mary Carson. If either of these two characters had shown remorse for their manipulative behavior, they would be closer than Paddy Cleary, but since Jalil Khan is, despite his mistakes, a fundamentally well-intentioned person, it seems reasonable to say that Cleary is somewhat more like him.

General Taheri is a kind but domineering person who definitely believes that his wife should be submissive to him. He also has some extreme ideas about women, as he almost killed his daughter, Soraya, when she was living with her boyfriend. In this sense, he is similar to Padraic Cleary, or Paddy, Meggie's father in The Thorn Birds. Paddy also believes that women should be submissive to men, though Frank, one of Paddy's sons, secretly helps his mother against Paddy's wishes. McCullough writes about Frank (the "he" in the first sentence) and Paddy:

Paddy is still secretly incensed that Frank, who is the oldest child in his family, is not his biological son but the offspring of his wife (Fee's) illicit union with a married man before Paddy and Fee were married. Paddy still resents his wife for having had this affair, and he resents Frank as a result. In this sense, Paddy is similar to General Taheri, who resents Soraya's former union with her boyfriend.

General Taheri is similar to Jalil in A Thousand Splendid Suns, as Jalil does not totally accept his daughter, Mariam, who was born out of marriage. Like the General, Jalil isolates his daughter, as he feels that her existence is contrary to the rules of society. Also like the General, Jalil has a more positive side as he eventually feels sorry for having spurned Mariam and for not having gratified her wish to see the movie Pinocchio. He follows traditional ideas about women but has a softer side towards his daughter, as does General Taheri in The Kite Runner. 

Laila in A Thousand Splendid Suns is parted from her true love, Tariq, and must marry Rasheed to find a legitimate father for her child. However, her marriage to Rasheed is brutal and abusive. In this sense, Laila is similar to Meggie, the protagonist of The Thorn Birds. Like Laila, Meggie loves someone she can not marry. In Meggie's case, this is Father Ralph de Bricassart. She loves him deeply, and he loves her back. Ralph cannot marry, however, because he is a priest. Eventually, Meggie has a love child with Ralph, whom she names Dane, but she is married to Luke. Like Rasheed, Luke is abusive toward his wife, and they have a loveless marriage. 

The character in A Thousand Splendid Suns who is most like Laila is potentially Hassan, who is brutally raped by Assef. In many ways, Hassan accepts this abuse in order to protect his best friend Amir (who turns out to be his half-brother). Like Meggie and Laila, Hassan does not receive the love he truly deserves. He is Baba's son, but Baba does not recognize him as his son. Later, Hassan dies, and Amir ultimately takes care of his son, hoping to make up for the love Amir did not give Hassan when he was alive. Meggie, Laila, and Hassan do not always receive the love they crave, and their children are all born into perilous circumstances. As a result, they share some similarities. 

Jalil Khan in A Thousand Splendid Suns is chiefly notable as Mariam's father—although, because she is illegitimate, he conceals her existence. To the outside world, he is a solid and prosperous figure, the father of a large legitimate family, and a successful businessman.

In The Kite Runner, the closest character to Jalil Khan is Baba, the father of Amir, also a wealthy and well-respected man who, for different reasons, has a difficult and distant relationship with his son. Amir does not repudiate Baba in the same way that Mariam rejects Jalil, but Baba still fails as a father, since Amir turns to Baba's friend Rahim Khan for the support and encouragement he never receives from his father.

There is no character in The Thorn Birds who closely resembles Jalil Khan. In terms of his social position, he is probably closest to Luke O'Neill, or even the rich and influential Mary Carson. However, both these characters are manipulative and vicious, which Jalil Khan is not, even initially. He also tries unsuccessfully to build a relationship with Mariam, something neither of them could be imagined doing. Perhaps the closest character, therefore, in his position as a patriarch and his fundamentally good intentions towards his children and the world in general, is Paddy Cleary.

I would say that the characters of Sanaubar in The Kite Runner and Ralph de Bricassart in The Thorn Birds are polar opposites of Laila in A Thousand Splendid Suns. Laila loves Mariam, Tariq, and her children and puts her relationships above all else. In contrast, Sanaubar puts her pleasure above her relationships, including her relationship with her son, and Ralph puts his ambition above his relationships.

Laila is a bright young girl who is capable of forming strong bonds with the people she loves. She loves Tariq, and their relationship contrasts markedly with the relationship that Sanaubar has with Ali. Laila loves Tariq despite his physical deformity—he lost a leg when a landmine exploded. In contrast, Sanaubar flaunts her own beauty and mocks Ali for his appearance and his crippled leg. She is described as “a beautiful but notoriously unscrupulous woman who lived up to her dishonorable reputation.”

Laila and Tariq have much in common, and she is his intellectual equal. In fact, when he returns from visiting his ailing uncle, Tariq jokes that Laila is envious of his “masculine smarts.” She teasingly retorts,

Your masculine smarts? Really? Tell me, who always wins at chess? ... And who failed math? Who do you come to for help with your math homework even though you're a grade ahead?

In contrast, beyond some shared similarities such as their religion and that they are cousins, “Ali and Sanaubar had little in common.”

Laila loves Tariq throughout and is willing to sacrifice for him. By contrast, Ralph sacrifices his love for Meggie because of his ambition. He even accepts the inheritance that would have gone to her family in order to gain prestige within the church and rise through its hierarchy, an action that seems particularly questionable given that he is a priest and also strips Meggie of the money that would have come to her otherwise. Moreover, while Laila protects her children, Sanaubar literally abandons her son, and Ralph figuratively abandons his.

Rasheed in A Thousand Splendid Suns is depicted as a villain with no redeeming qualities, and he dies a violent death. He can be contrasted to many characters in the other two novels who are both good and complex and who survive.

In The Kite Runner, Sohrab is the character who seems to be the polar opposite of Rasheed in almost every way. Although both characters are male, Rasheed is an adult man who inflicts damage on others, including his wives and children. Rasheed not only wreaked havoc on his home and family, but he can be considered responsible for his own death, because Mariam killed him to save the rest of their family. Sohrab is at the other end of the spectrum, because he is a child and innocent of any wrongdoing.

In The Thorn Birds, Justine offers an extreme opposite to Rasheed. While the reader sees her growing from childhood innocence into adulthood, her intentions and actions show a kind of purity. She suffers from grief over her brother when he dies but finds a true union with Rainer. Thus, Justine is loyal to the ideals of family in two ways. Though different from Sohrab in many ways, both characters end up in loving, happy homes.

The character of Tariq in A Thousand Splendid Suns is first the friend and later the lover of Laila. Characters who seem to be polar opposites of Tariq are Mary Carson in The Thorn Birds and Assef in The Kite Runner. Although Tariq is separated from Laila when his family flees, he continues to love her. When he is finally able to return to Afghanistan, he seeks her out. Not only are they able to resume their relationship but he also learns that they have a child and then becomes a devoted father. Mary Carson and Assef are similar in some ways. They are both fundamentally selfish people who feel justified in doing whatever it takes to achieve their goals. In the process, Mary does help Father Ralph, but she is motivated by the desire to assert influence on the church hierarchy. Assef is not only selfish but cruel, and he exerts physical violence as well as emotional control over others.

Tariq is one of the most sympathetic characters in the novel: he is separated from his beloved, Laila, largely because of his youth and his loyalty to family. That loyalty again becomes evident when he returns home and is able to resume his relationship with Laila, as well as stepping into the role of father. Mary has few redeeming qualities, but she is not totally evil like Assef, who commits rape, admires the Nazis, and becomes a Taliban leader.

Fariba is similar in some ways to Fiona from The Thorn Birds. Like Fiona, Fariba is a mother who cares very much for her children and tries to protect them from the challenges they face. The sorrows in both of their lives, however, often weigh them down. For Fariba, losing her children, Ahmed and Noor, when they leave to fight sends her into a spiral of grief. She spends many days in her bed worrying about her sons. Fiona was initially an aristocrat and is unused to the life of labor she now lives with Meggie and her husband, Paddy. She often feels mistreated and overwhelmed by how much work she has to do.

Fariba is also similar to Sofia from The Kite Runner. Sofia is Amir's mother, who is mainly referred to in reflection, as she died young. She is compassionate and has a sensitive soul, and Amir inherited his love of poetry from her. Fariba is also kind and compassionate, though her grief often overshadows these qualities. Like Sofia, Fariba also dies suddenly after a bomb hits her home.

The character of Nana in A Thousand Splendid Suns is the mother of Mariam. She has several similarities to Sanaubar, the mother of Hassan, in The Kite Runner, and Fiona Cleary, the mother of Frank, in The Thorn Birds. In each case, the woman is not married to the father of this particular child. In many ways, the women show devotion to the illegitimate children, but their maternal behaviors also have problematic aspects.

Jalil is the father of Nana’s daughter, Mariam. Because of class differences, he refuses to take Nana as another wife. As she raises her child alone, Nana becomes extremely bitter toward Jalil in particular and toward men in general. She seems to feel that she is protecting Mariam and preparing her to endure life’s difficulties. However, her harsh treatment and resentful attitude alienate the girl. Longing to know her father and half-siblings, Mariam goes to meet them. While she is gone, Nana makes good on her threat and ends her own life.

While she is married to Ali, Sanaubar has a sexual relationship with Baba, who becomes the biological father of Ali. In this case, the boy’s paternity is kept secret from almost everyone for many years. After Sanaubar, who has reputedly had sexual relationships with numerous other men as well, leaves the family, Ali raises the boy alone. Unlike Nana, she remains alive, but is shown to have suffered terribly before she returns to Hassan.

Fiona Cleary has an affair with a married man, Pahek, and becomes pregnant by him. Her father persuades Paddy Cleary to marry her and claim the boy, Frank. For many years she conceals from Frank and the world that Paddy is not his father. Her favoritism toward her son is contrasted with her treatment of her and Frank’s daughter, Meggie, whom she sends to live with Frank’s sister. Later in life she confesses all to Meggie as a warning about her involvement with Father Ralph.

It is Rahim Khan who tells Amir at the beginning of The Kite Runner that "there is a way to be good again." Despite his relatively minor role, Rahim Khan is important for two reasons, both suggested by this initial telephone call. In the first place, he is one of the principal voices of sanity and decency in the novel, close to being its moral center. Second, he is a father figure to Amir, guiding and encouraging him in a way that his actual father, the forceful and demanding Baba, often does not.

We see Rahim Khan principally through the lens of his relationship to Amir and his effect on Amir's life. In the same way, Hakim (Babi) in A Thousand Splendid sons appears mainly as a father and a teacher. His relationship with Laila is the center of his life and, though he is a mild-mannered personality, he is fiercely protective of her and her education. He tells Laila that she can be any thing she wants and that she has a role to play in the future of her country. He encourages her with her studies in the same way that Rahim Khan encourages Amir's writing.

In The Thorn Birds, the character who most resembles Rahim Khan is Archbishop (later Cardinal) Vittorio di Contini Verchese. Vittorio is a kind, calm, reasonable figure of authority, who acts like a good father to Ralph, considering the ultimate welfare of the young priest over and above his religious vocation. Like Rahim, he he is a quiet, self-effacing character, whose strength of character is not immediately obvious but becomes apparent in the wisdom of his conduct and advice.

Hakim in A Thousand Splendid Suns is most readily compared to Rahim Khan in The Kite Runner and Cardinal Vittorio Scarbanza di Contini-Verchese in The Thorn Birds. All three are men who are either actual fathers or function as paternal figures to the protagonists in the novels. Hakim is slightly different in that he is the biological father of a daughter. Neither Rahim nor the cardinal (who is first seen as an archbishop) has children of their own, but each serves in a paternal or mentor capacity to a younger man.

As the father of Laila, Hakim nurtured his daughter in ways that were unusual in Afghan society in the years when she was growing up. He instilled in her a love of learning and encouraged her to become educated. While this encouragement her development as an independent thinker, his ability to support her further was severely curtailed.

Rahim Khan is a strong positive influence on Amir, especially after the younger man’s own father, Baba, dies. Rahim has also played a mentor role to Baba’s other son, Hassan. It is Rahim’s influence that enables Amir to shoulder his family responsibility to Sohrab.

Beginning while he is an archbishop, Vittorio is a primary mentor for the young priest, Father Ralph. He guides the newcomer to Rome through the intricacies of faith and Church politics. This relationship is especially crucial as Ralph did not know his biological father. In this respect as well, the cardinal resembles Rahim in serving as a secondary father.