The first time I was introduced to the author Khaled Hosseini was in my high school AP Language class. Hosseini is the author of several well-known books, including The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed. He is also a Goodwill Envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Refugee Agency, and the founder of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. After finishing And the Mountains Echoed, I remembered just how much I loved Hosseini’s style of writing. It left me aching for more of his deeply felt understanding of family sacrifice, and what it truly means to be human in a broken and war-torn world.
And the Mountains Echoed is an Adult Fiction book which follows the stories of several different family members. The novel mostly takes place in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and fictional surrounding villages. In the opening chapter we meet an impoverished farmer in a fictional village called Shadbagh, whose name is Saboor. Saboor tells his children the story of a poor merchant forced to give up one of his children to a being known as the div (a type of fictional genie). Plagued by despair at the prospect of giving up one of his children, he draws a stone at random with a name on it. One day, years later, the farmer decides to track down the div and slay him. Once the farmer approaches the cave at the top of the mountain where the div lives, he is welcomed in and shown to his son, who is playing happily with his friends. The div explains that the farmer’s son, named Qais, has been given a loving family, and a good education. The farmer is given a choice to take his son back home with him to a poor life with little food and no education, or leave him with the div to continue to succeed. The farmer reluctantly agrees to let his son stay, and leaves the cave with a heavy heart. Moved by compassion for the poor farmer, the div presents him with a memory loss potion so the farmer may forget that he ever had a son named Qais. When the farmer becomes an old man he sometimes hears the faint sound of laughter in the evening winds, but can never truly remember to whom the little voice belongs.
This opening chapter sets the stage for the rest of the novel. We see a multi-generational family saga unfold and read about how Hosseini’s characters’ lives intertwine in the forms of love, loyalty, and loss. Hosseini’s goal in this particular novel was to get the reader to think of his characters’ intentions more along the lines of “gray” rather than “black and white” (which was more evident in his first two novels). Furthermore, his understanding of the reality that we are victims of time is also a prominent theme as we see some of his characters’ lives unfold from a young age. Khaled Hosseini is truly a master-storyteller, and I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who desires to seek understanding in its various forms on a deeper level.
Availability: Book; Book on CD Rating: **** Stars (I really liked it) Reviewer: Ashley, Thibodaux Staff
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DISCOVER MORE WITH NOVELIST APPEALS! And the Mountains Echoed
AWARDS: Goodreads Choice Awards: 2013; Library Journal Best Books: 2013; Booklist Editors' Choice - Best Fiction Books: 2013 GENRE: Adult Books for Young Adults; Family Sagas; Political Fiction THEME: Immigrant Experiences (Moving through the world, over borders and into new and unfamiliar places, has always been challenging. These books explore the experiences of immigrants as they build lives abroad.) TONE: Dramatic; Heartwrenching; Strong Sense of Place STORYLINE: Character-Driven; Intricately Plotted; Own Voices WRITING STYLE: Lyrical CHARACTER: Culturally Diverse LOCATION: Afghanistan SUBJECT: Adoption Racket; Betrayal; Community Life; Families; Family Relationships; Gay Men; Immigrants; Intergenerational Relations; Interpersonal Relations; Loss; Moving to a New Country; Plastic Surgeons; Women Poets
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