And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini : Book Review

 “I suspect the truth is that we are waiting, all of us, against insurmountable odds, for something extraordinary to happen to us.”

I wonder how he did it. And The Mountains Echoed is a poignant tale of the powerful love between a brother and a sister. Hosseini makes us look at a taken-for-granted relationship used mostly for quarrelling purposes with a renewed lens.

Abdullah, ten, is someone who would go to any lengths for his three-year-old sister, Pari. Having been by her side since her birth, with no mother to care for them, he means the world to Pari. But what unfolds when their father sets off with Pari across the desert in search of work, is what fate is all about. Thus the story unfolds across decades, countries, continents, and myriad characters, all leading somewhat intertwined lives.

The novel begins with the kids’ father telling them a bedtime story about ‘A finger cut to save the hand’. It is only later that we realize what unsaid implication the story had.

Hosseini masterfully veers through multiple narratives at once, a moment back you might be in a rich Parisian house and the next moment you are flown to the dusty streets of Kabul. The setting shifts from Shadbagh, a small village in Afghanistan, to Kabul, then to Paris and America.

His adroitly sketched characters deserve a special mention to themselves. He brings out the inner turmoil experienced by his characters, their secrets that lie trapped in them forever. The backstories of all the characters are beautifully brought out leaving behind hardly any string dangling. Knowing their stories gives us a sense of intimacy with the characters. All their actions become magically explained, leaving us wondering if we could, in real life too be as forgiving if we knew as well the past of our family and friends.

His captivating style clutches at your heart the most, leaving you entranced and bewitched. Hosseini brings out many shades of mankind in a kindly non-judging manner. How he manages to squeeze the many aspects of humankind remains a mystery to me.

An intricate tale, the novel was something unlike anything I had read so far. Although the narrative frequently switches, it always has a firm hold on your heart and mind, making it a compulsively addictive book. Hosseini, with masterly skill, wrenches your heart out yet leaves it suffused with one of the purest forms of love.

The story might’ve been lost. Who brought it to us?

Time passes. Generations are replaced. Only the mountains remain, the steady witnesses of the truly transparent love. And the mountains, echoed.