And the mountains echoed

by

paperback; hardcover, 404 pages

English language

Published 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing, Riverhead Books.

ISBN:
978-1-59463-176-4
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OCLC Number:
829999614

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4 stars (1 review)

Presents a story inspired by human love, how people take care of one another, and how choices resonate through subsequent generations. Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their father and step-mother 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 Adbullah, Pari, as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named, is everything. What happens to them-and the large and small manners in which it echoes through the lives of so many other people-is proof of the moral complexity of life.

This story begins in 1952 Afghanistan with two motherless siblings and moves through complex relationships and generations to the United States, Paris, and Greece, weaving a story of commitment, love, honor, and sacrifice. The plot contains violence.

36 editions

reviewed And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

Review of 'And the Mountains Echoed' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

3 1/2 stars

Some beautiful prose in the first half of the book followed by some chapters that seemed to be "filler" material -- they could be removed and the primary thread would be just as good (maybe better).

The gimmick of this novel is that each chapter is told from a different character's point of view. The result is something more than a collection of short stories, but because the reader doesn't have much time with each character, the book ended up being less than the sum of its parts.

The gimmick worked very well when we are treated to the other side of a situation we've been introduced to previously, such as when we see Nila's side of the adoption storyline. However, the Markos/Thalia chapter didn't evoke any particular emotion in me.