Book Review: And the Mountains Echoed

I FINALLY got around to reading Khaled Hosseini critically acclaimed novel “And the Mountains Echoed.” I got the book almost a year ago, and it’s taken me this long to finally read it (in truth, it took me less than a day to finish the novel, but almost a year to actually pick it up and begin it). Perhaps I was subconsciously reluctant to read it because I didn’t want it to replace “A Thousand Splendid Suns” as my favorite Khaled Hosseini novel. No matter, I finally finished it, and my mind is currently a tumultuous mess of emotions, characters, and storylines.

“When you have lived as long as I have lived, you find that cruelty and benevolence are but shades of the same color”

I’ve always found Khaled Hosseini to be an extremely compelling storyteller; he manages to capture your interest within the first few pages, and before you know it, you’re emotionally invested in the characters. “And the Mountains Echoed” was no different, with the reader becoming enamored by Pari and Abdullah’s brother-sister bond very early into the novel. However, this is where Hosseini’s new novel begins to deviate from his previous two. In “Kite Runner” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, Hosseini chose a few main characters and really delved into their personalities, relationships, and flaws. In “And the Mountains Echoed”, there is no shortage of characters Hosseini has chosen to explore more deeply. While he managed to connect all the characters back to the initial Pari-Abdullah story-line seamlessly and simultaneously explored many cultural, political, and economic issues faced by Afghanis across the world, there was just so much going on that it was rather difficult to fully invest yourself in one story.

The novel starts off with a father, Saboor, telling his two young children, Pari and Abdullah, a rather unusual bedtime story about another father facing a difficult moral dilemma. Within a few pages, we can see the same moral dilemma being thrust upon Saboor, and thus, the main storyline of the novel unfurls. Pari and Abdullah’s incredible brother-sister relationship is established very quickly, and within no time, we find ourselves rooting for them, no matter what the future holds. Hosseini’s description of Pari and Abdullah’s bond is so heartbreakingly beautiful that the reader finds themselves wondering what kind of cruel world would tear them apart. However, before we can fully acclimate ourselves to their loss, Hosseini has thrown us into the next story. From here on out, we unfold the stories of many of the characters who have a direct and indirect relationship to Pari and Abdullah, and see the events that caused their separation and everything that has transpired since through the eyes of a variety of characters. While each story clearly connects back to the main crux of the plot, it’s impossible to develop a relationship with every single character, because there are simply too many. It goes without saying however, that each story is exquisitely written, delving into a variety of issues, ranging from poverty, classicism, and women’s rights to more personal dilemmas such as caring for a mentally or physically incapacitated loved one. I only wish all the stories had been more Pari-Abdullah centric and that Hosseini had developed their characters and beautiful relationship further. In a way, many of the storylines seem unfinished, almost as though a few extra chapters were required per story to fully understand each character.

This being said, “And the Mountains Echoed” is still a beautiful read, encapsulating so many emotions, moral and ethical dilemmas, and beautiful relationships between brother-sister, sister-sister, employer-employee, parent-child, and even stranger-stranger. It’s a novel everyone should read, for at the very least, it will encourage us to appreciate what we have been blessed with.