Book review: And the Mountains Echoed
BY ZAINA DARWISH
“He said that if culture is a house, then language was the key to the front door; to all the rooms inside. Without it, he said, you ended up wayward, without a proper home or a legitimate identity.” Wrote Khaled ElHosseini in his recently released book And the mountains Echoed.
Khaled Hosseini is one of the most widely read novelists in the world. Author of two bestsellers The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, he manages to strike his audience with yet a third stimulating novel, And the Mountains Echoed. This new novel is about how we love and take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations.
The story revolves around the lives of two main characters along with the lives and experiences of other characters. Abdullah, a 10- year-old, and his baby sister Pari, a five- year- old, live in an impoverished Afghan village with their father, Saboor. Abdullah took the responsibility of taking care of his little sister as their mother died while giving birth. One day, their father decides to take them on a trip to the big city of Kabul where their Uncle Nabi works for a rich couple, Suleiman and Nila Wahdati. Pari is then adopted by the rich couple and left to live an unexpected life. The storyline hurtles into the aftermath of the family’s rupture.
Over time, both children grew to live strikingly different lives. Pari grew up in Paris with Nila who left her husband behind to live a lifestyle impossible in Afghanistan. Pari becomes a mathematician, marries a drama teacher and has three children of her own. However, life wasn’t all that perfect for her. She supposed that she was adopted and, therefore, decided to travel back to Afghanistan to find out the truth about her past and try to fill the gap in her heart. Meanwhile, Abdullah ends up on the other side of the world, California, where he’s in charge of a restaurant. He is also married with an only daughter named after his sister Pari. Aware of her father’s dream, reuniting with his long lost sibling, young Pari decides to take care of her father when diagnosed with dementia.
Hosseini seems to be interested in brain teasing the reader by including stories of different characters that are somehow linked to one another.
In recounting the different tales the author demonstrates the many ways in which families nurture, hurt, honor and sacrifice for one another at all times.
The story becomes a page-turner as it becomes more powerful and emotionally complex.
You might ask yourself why someone should read such a story? First thing’s first, curiosity killed the cat. Following are other reasons as to why one should read any of Khaled Hosseini’s books for that matter.
Each writer has a style of their own; Hosseini has quite a distinguished one. Hosseini’s language is very stark and spare. As an Afghani writer, he usually refers and sets his novels against a backdrop of fairly modern Afghani history. His imagery is vivid in its simplicity yet infused with very human elements. There’s that socio-cultural perspective that is very rich.
He tends to span generations as well, so there are those different family dynamics. Another strength lies in his characters and the relationship they have between each other: rich, layered, varied and flawed. Far from being fairytale characters, the reader manages to emphasize with their moments of weakness or shame.
This makes his novels even more believable. Even though his novels have tragic elements, they seem to be inspiring and get you thinking.
