Saturday, May 11, 2013

ADVANCE BOOK REVIEW/Book # 61: AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED By: Khaled Hosseini

Even though Mr. Hosseini is a worldwide literary phenomenon with over 38 million in book sales this is the first book of his I've read in it's entirety (when I was in college I tried to read The Kite Runner when I was going through a depressed phase and it did not work out well).  Now I am banging my head against a wall wondering what I've been missing out on all this time, though it's difficult to imagine that he could have previously written a book better than this.

Though And the Mountains Echoed is ultimately a series of rich vignettes with interwoven characters spanning distance and time, the book manages to come full circle.  This book accomplishes everything the dust jacket promises: a perusal of relationships while the reader is able to travel the world from Kabul to Paris to Tinos and beyond.

Exploring (it seems) every kind of human relationship, the one that resonated the most was that of a rich young man in Kabul and the lifelong kinship with his chauffeur.  There was not a weak story in the bunch, but this one in particular became transcendent.  While the last story- clearly intended to tie up the main conflict of the book- lost steam toward the end due to the lack of reader satisfaction when one of the essential characters loses his memory, the book overall is a firm win.

A

*Book of the Times- NY Times

And the Mountains Echoed will be released on Tuesday, May 21st.  Please take the time to visit/call your local bookstore and pre-order it.  You'll be glad you did.
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1 comment:

  1. RahulJune 1, 2013 at 10:51 PM

    Third in the series of some fantastic piece of writing by Hosseini, this book traces the journeys of a brother and sister through years. The plot of the book is slightly crowded at places but the emotional content is par excellence.

    In particular, the character of Nila brings out the paradox between modernity and tradition in the Afghan society. Though the story is set in war ravaged Afghanistan, it relates beautifully to any of the developing countries, including India.

    While the book could have done without excessive character play like Thalia, Timur etc, the author manages to breathe life into each one of them. Be it the relationship between Parwana and Masooma, Suleiman and Nabi, Idris and Roshi or Abdollah and Pari, the author brings out the frustrations, joys and pains of each of the relationships beautifully, particularly in the background of the ever changing societal and political environs of Afghanistan. And the author manages all this in his simple poetic writing style. The book explodes with colours of myriad emotions and characters.

    Overall, a recommended reading for its musty, earthy and emotional content.

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