And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

Synopsis :

So, then. You want a story and I will tell you one...Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their father and stepmother in the small village of Shadbagh. Their father, Saboor, is constantly in search of work and they struggle together through poverty and brutal winters. To Abdullah, Pari - as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named - is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their heads touching, their limbs tangled. 

One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand. 

Crossing generations and continents, moving from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos, with profound wisdom, depth, insight and compassion, Khaled Hosseini writes about the bonds that define us and shape our lives, the ways in which we help our loved ones in need, how the choices we make resonate through history and how we are often surprised by the people closest to us. 


This is what I say :

Right after reading The Kite Runner, I went to treasure hunt for other titiles by Khaled Hosseini that I might have in my shelf. Unfortunately, there are none.  But luck was on my side as I found both And The Mountains Echoed and A Thousand Splendid Suns online, so here we are.

And The Mountains Echoed is written differently from The Kite Runner.  It is more like a collection of stories from different characters in the universe of Pari and Abdullah.  It gave really in-depth dimensions to these characters that readers might just not think much of in wanting to know more about what happen to Pari and Abdullah. 

Thw writing reminded me of Maeve Binchy who loved to write in similar manner...a core story was introduced and then she would weaved stories of characters surrounding the core story.  Khaled did something similar with this title and did it rather well too with family relationships being the core theme of the book.

I enjoyed And The Mountains Echoed. Next up, A Thousand Splendid Suns.