And the mountains echoed

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini is the famous author who wrote the international best-selling book, The Kite Runner, and A Thousand Splendid Suns. 

What I love about the book:

The stories in And The Mountains Echoed took place in a lot of places, like Afghanistan, Paris, USA, and Greece. It contains 9 short stories, with the characters are all intertwined with each other. Its main story is about a brother and a sister living in a small, under-developed area in Afghan, who were separated in a young age. Later in the book, readers get to see what happened with their life, the life of the people around them, the environment and circumstances where they grew up, and how they are finally reunited. Each story told is seemingly about a different person altogether, but I'm always surprised at how Hosseini managed to bring us a little closer to the reunion of the brother and sister, with the click of each missing puzzle piece. 

Weakness:

The book does not really have a regular happy ending I expected. But it's not a weakness when I think about it again. It's a reality and a fact that happy endings depend on how we see things. Maybe not everyone is happy or fulfilled in the end, and for a lot of times it breaks our hearts, but it's still a perfect end that makes perfect sense. I hate how Khaled Hosseini managed to pull such things. He's too brilliant.

However, no book is perfect. So does And the Mountains Echoed. For some parts I felt bored and definitely felt the stories were being dragged too long and didn't pick up fast enough. I didn't cry even once, despite a lot of people stating they were crying when reading the book. Maybe I'm heartless, I don't know. I'm a big crier, but something in the book didn't work out, it dried up my tears just before they surfaced. 

Verdict:

It may not be the first choice for most people, but definitely a valuable book for all keen readers, especially those who've enjoyed The Kite Runner or A Thousand Splendid Suns. Though centered around Afghan and Muslim, it's not a religious book. Thus, people from every faith can savour and feel the warmth of the 9 stories presented in the book. It's also a nice and balanced views of Afghan, the red zone, and an eye opener of the life of those who face death everyday in the war zone and the consequences of the war itself. It's an exquisite book about life, struggles, love, and death, portrayed in the midst of chaos, resulting in a well-sown story with an unexpected ending.