And the Mountains Echoed By Khaled Hosseini Like many other Khaled Hosseni fans, I was getting restless waiting for this book to be released. True to form, he has managed to write another great story that will appeal to almost everyone. Although like his previous books there is sadness and hard times portrayed in this book, this one shies away from any conflicts. And the Mountains Echoed has a relatively softer story, but still has a lot of meaning and often times will break your heart. I dare you to try not crying as you read this book, I failed dismally and found myself sobbing uncontrollably by the last chapter.
This novel gets rolling in the year 1952. An Afghan father, his son Abdullah and daughter Pari are headed to Kabul trekking through the desert overnight. When bed time arrives the father tells his children the story of how a little boy was taken away by a div. He then goes on to tell him that what may seem as a bad situation at first, might actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise. The next day this father finds himself having to give away his daughter to a rich man when they arrive in Kabul. Other stories then stem out from this first one. We are taken on an emotional ride that leaves you with many questions. Hosseini tells the story moving it from Afghanistan to Paris, to San Francisco and then to Greece. We are taken through almost five decades as the other stories are told each from a different point of view. Family relationships are explored under different circumstances such as war, death, and even separation. He cleverly gives each character their own chapter to tell their story, but still manages to keep these different stories relevant. Khaled Hosseini is originally from Afghanistan. He was born and raised in the capital city of Kabul, only moving to North America sometime in 1980.
The Kite Runner was the first book he wrote, and it has since become an international bestseller. It is now available in over thirty countries worldwide. Since 2006 he has officially been a goodwill envoy to the Refugee Agency of the United Nations. Khaled currently resides in the state of California, in the United States. And the Mountains Echoed was recently listed on the Amazon Best Book of the Month list for May 2013. As usual the writing is beautiful. His use of prose is very powerful and the story telling is very creative. He paints these amazing scenes that make the stories hard to forget. You will find yourself fully engaged throughout the book, each chapter plays a number on your emotions. I love how he was able to weave all these stories together, even over a considerably long period of time. It was also really impressive to see how much these people cared for each other and were unselfishly willing to give up their dreams for each other. There were some faults when it came to the narration for me. Especially when it came to joining the stories together.
Sometimes I found myself confused as to how some of the characters fitted into the the main story line. One such chapter was the one by Idris. However, by the end of the book Khaled is able to bring it all home. This just goes to show you what a master at story telling this man is. This man is clearly very insightful when it comes to family relationships.
Without doubt Khaled Hosseini has immense talent when it comes to writing. He also possesses the gift of story telling, that many other authors can only dream of. This novel will make you laugh at times and many other times you will find yourself crying. It was definitely very hard to put down once I began reading it. You will find it all in this novel from love, sacrifice, honor, pride and even dignity. A great read that I will gladly recommend to anyone looking for a good book.
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