And the Mountains Echoed Paperback – June 3, 2014

Afghanistan, a stony land of rugged landscape and beautiful vistas, is home to a people with intense views of life and an existence filled with hardship. It has been this way for thousands of years and modern times have done nothing to ease their hardscrabble search for peace.Author Khalid Hosseini was born there and left at age eleven, eventually becoming a doctor in the United States. “And The Mountains Echoed,” is his third novel about Afghanistan, all of them huge commercial successes. This book might be the most intense and is more difficult to read, but there are other considerations that make it most engrossing. For example, the author has filled it with many more characters, always a difficult writing task to overcome, and has eliminated most reference to the oppressive Taliban, concentrating on complex family relationships rather than military conflict. The Afghans are intense and passionate people, making these alliances very interesting to readers that enjoy that sort of thing.There are at least eight major characters connected with the initial incident of a father selling his young girl to a wealthy couple. The chapters are written almost as short stories about various aspects of the decision. The plot travels rapidly through the years recounting incidents that impact relatives and friends, weaving story upon story that involve different types of narration and connection. Some have said the excessive characters add depth to the author’s probing of the initial circumstance.The scope of the novel is larger than I have space to describe it. We have love, jealousy, betrayal, and loyalty; in short, all the ways people interact with others. Hosseini portrays them in exquisite language and sensitivity. He captures the radiance and the sadness of familial relationships. Some critics have panned the use of so many characters. Other reviewers have called the novel “masterfully crafted” and “emotionally gripping.” It’s a great read and I highly recommend it.Schuyler T WallaceAuthor of TIN LIZARD TALES

The problem is finding the words to describe the experience of reading this book! I absolutely sunk into it - was overcome by the power and beauty of his writing. Reading an online summary of the story and character descriptions after I finished the book helped clear some of the confusion I had about the characters - esp in the the latter chapters - but I'm glad I didn't read that before reading the book, and wouldn't advise that - might spoil the story surprises. Each chapter covers different characters in the story - characters so fascinating, I would love to have had much much more on each one. I was struck time and again about how "real" I felt the people and situations played out - often not what I would chose for them, but the way life actually happens. Oh, I really loved this book! Please, if anyone is reading this, and knows of more books you felt were this good, I would love a recommendation. I haven't enjoyed reading a book this much in while.

And The Mountains Echoed is about the unbreakable bond between Abdullah and his little sister Pari who are growing up in a far flung small village in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, Abdullah and Pari's father is faced with an incredibly difficult decision that rips their family apart and sets the entire family on lifelong paths of interminable searching.I thought nothing could be better than The Kite Runner until I read A Thousand Splendid Suns. Then I thought nothing could be better than A Thousand Splendid Suns until I read this book. I could speak about how poetically Hosseini writes, how expertly he recreates the voice of children or about how his characters are human in a way that makes them feel unnervingly familiar but I'd rather speak about the themes he explores in this book.And The Mountains Echoed is an incredibly moving book about familial ties and ties that feel familial. How do we create a home and lay foundations for the future when you have no idea what home feels like? Hosseini explores how far people go to fill the gaping holes within them and how far people will go to fill the gaping holes they have created in other people. There are so many holes in all our lives; holes of sacrifice, holes of longing, holes of hurt that cause us to search for remedies that may or may not exist or even cure us.I was incredibly impressed by the scope of this book especially considering its length. It spans continents, eras and multiple versions of life without ever getting the reader lost or confused. I was also impressed by how closely it resembled real life in all its complicated glory.

There were many great beginnings to separate books in this book, but the author didn't connect them in a deeply meaningful way. The story of Pari and her brother was wonderful and had an ending, but I would have liked more insight into Her brother's life after Pari was taken from him. The rivalry between Pari's step mother and her twin sister also would have been a good novel, but it was completely not important to the story of Pari and her brother... we also don't ever see how Pari's step-mother's life was impacted over time by this rivalry. Similarly, the story of the competition between two opposite cousins was another good beginning to a separate novel, but it didn't belong in this one. Then there was the Greek mother-daughter relationship - again, a good start to a separate story not related to this story. Ican't remember Hosseini's other two books, but whatever he did with the middle and end in those books, he should have done that with this one.

Having read Hosseini's previous two books, I was looking forward to this one. What a disappointing experience. From the very beginning of the book I found myself backtracking. New characters were introduced into the book with no indication as to how they might fit in. There are too many characters and too many stories. There is no flow to the book and it has a lack of transitions. Hosseini has a penchant for hardship and tragedy and he does not resolve things, even in the smallest way. The story was designed to plant in our mind a yearning for brother and sister to reconnect in some way, when this happened it did not enhance the story in any way. I thought that the story had potential, but lacked a focus on the enjoyment of the reader.

Having read not so good reviews about Hosseini's third novel, I was a little sceptical whether to read the book. Hosseini's previous books have had so much impression on me that I was curious to know more of his works.The book opens with a dreadful fairy tale (a child is sacrificed to the Evil Jinny in order to save others ) that was presumably told by a father to his children. This puts you off reading for a while but it's Hossaini's talent and his story telling gift to make you emotionally bound to the story and its characters. Whatever I thought cruel and unreal is an actual theme of the novel: you make sacrifices "sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand" - that hurts, really hurts and tears never stop dropping but you still continue reading because you sympathise with the characters and search answers for others' cruelty.10-year-old Abdullah is torn away from his beloved sister, Pari, who is sold to a rich family in Kabul. The story is told from different characters and the flow is not chronological- it is rather built as a serious of tales, each told in a different style from a different point of view. Unlike other reviewers, I love the way it is written- you get insight into each character and realise their struggle for happiness. I even made a parallel between Amir from the Kite Runner and Idriss- an Afghan born American doctor who promises to help Roshi- a victim of the brutal murder and his inability to do so- to sacrifice his wealth to help the poor creature. I think Hosssaini complicates our thoughts about generosity, all of his characters are complicated too- as the story unfolds, you get to know them better, you realise and revise your judgement about them and recognise the good in the bad or opposite.I also loved how almost all characters are then linked to each other, cross each other's way in their accounts: you later realise that Abdullah in Idriss's story is your main character you've been waiting to read about all the way through. You learn more About Nila from Pari's account as well as Nabi`s. Its not an easy read, Hussaini deviates from his writing style in his previous novels, but I found this twist quite interesting. It does test your patience though.I also liked the way Hossaini tries to break from rigid rules- Nila is an example of a revolutionary woman who wouldn't follow strict Afgan rules of being a "sacred" because you're woman, the character you love and hate at the time. It was also surprising to raise the issue of a gay love on a very subtle level- this was something new I discovered in this novel. The author touches many issues here in one piece of work: true brother-sister love, revolutionary woman, one's inability to sacrifice his wealth to help others, on the other hand a devotion of the cheuffer to his employer, Pari`s loyalty on the cost of her own happiness. I did find some parts too brutal to picture, but overall it was fantastic!I think the book is the literature masterpiece and should be among bestsellers.

Hosseini is such a gifted writer with interesting characters, vivid images and compelling stories. In this book it feels like he had so many good ideas but didn’t know what to do with them. It is more like a collection of short stories which are told in a hurry - there are probably the bones of 6 full novels started here, but only one main narrative is followed through.I was also irritated by the jumping between time periods and characters which adds nothing to the book at all; this story could have been told chronologically and it would have been better.I wonder if he really intended the book to be like this or did he get lost along the way?Having said that there was much to enjoy and some thought provoking themes to think about.

I am usually a huge fan of Hosseini's books. I read the A Thousand Splendid Suns and almost cried.This has been a great book, but the reason I didn't give it a full 5-star rating was due to the fact that it jumped around a lot.The book begins in 1950s Afghanistan, and I was thinking "finally! a book about Afghanistan without mention of the wars or Taliban!", but it jumps forward a lot and backwards too. There are many different characters and at times hard to keep up with the sheer volume of happenings.That said however, it reads easy, and it stays true to the author's style. And yeah, eventually there is mention of the war and the Taliban, but thankfully that does not centre as a main part of the story as it does in his other books.I would recommend this book. Whilst not amazing, I still enjoyed reading it and if you like the author's other books, you'll like this one too

I had high hopes after Hosseini's earlier books but I didn't enjoy this as much. It is beautifully written and the first half is very strong but thereafter I found the story dragged. The story is told by several narrators and introduces new characters at regular intervals. I have no problem with this but unfortunately at times, particularly in the last half of the book, these stories seem to take a long while going not very far and at times I couldn't see why the sub-story had been included. A number of characters were introduced who I assumed and expected would play a more significant part in the novel but their involvement just petered out even although there was a certain theme. I also found it frustrating to have to keep flicking back through the pages to check that a character that re-appeared was the one I was thinking of. I felt at times that Hosseini was alluding to greater themes but that these were only partially formed - either that or I was reading too much into things.Overall I was a little disappointed. My disappointment may have been increased by expectations created by the earlier books, but this one is in my view the weakest of the three.