遠山的回音

by Khaled Hosseini, 卡勒德‧胡賽尼, 李靜宜 (Translator)

《追風箏的孩子》胡賽尼回來了。

呼喚著，等待，總有一天會響起的回音

　　《遠山的回音》這次依然從胡賽尼擅長的手足之情出發，但透過九個篇章，描述一對自幼失散、感情深厚的兄妹——阿布杜拉和帕麗——如何經過漫長的半個世紀，彼此惦念、尋找，而橫跨半個地球、四個國家（阿富汗、美國、法國及希臘），影響數個家族的動人尋根故事；一如讀者所說：「每個角色就像一只只的風箏，帶著希望和夢想飛往喀布爾、巴黎、舊金山、希臘……」

　　

　　故事的一開始，是另一個故事。阿富汗鄉間有一個會拐走小孩的魔怪傳說，傷心的父親千山萬水尋找失蹤的愛子，卻發現所有被魔怪抓來的孩子，都活在一個美好的地方，不愁吃穿、沒有病苦。魔怪問這位父親：如果你把孩子帶回去，能給他更好的生活嗎？你能讓你的孩子脫離貧窮、活著長大成人？

　　

　　這是一個無比揪心的決定，而說完這個睡前故事的父親，隔天帶著一對兒女來到喀布爾；他們不知道的是，這故事只是一段漫長分離的序曲：隨著養母遠赴巴黎的小女孩帕麗，遺忘了如父的長兄阿布杜拉；失去小妹的哥哥輾轉在美國落地生根，隨著阿富汗陷入漫天烽火，斷了尋回小妹的希望，只為女兒取

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Book Club, Contemporary, Middle East, Historical, Literary Fiction

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 29, 2012

About the author

Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. In 1970 Hosseini and his family moved to Iran where his father worked for the Embassy of Afghanistan in Tehran. In 1973 Hosseini's family returned to Kabul, and Hosseini's youngest brother was born in July of that year.
In 1976, when Hosseini was 11 years old, Hosseini's father obtained a job in Paris, France, and moved the family there. They were unable to return to Afghanistan because of the Saur Revolution in which the PDPA communist party seized power through a bloody coup in April 1978. Instead, a year after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, in 1980 they sought political asylum in the United States and made their residence in San Jose, California.
Hosseini graduated from Independence High School in San Jose in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 1988. The following year, he entered the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, where he earned his M.D. in 1993. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in 1996. He practiced medicine for over ten years, until a year and a half after the release of The Kite Runner.
Hosseini is currently a Goodwill Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He has been working to provide humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan through the Khaled Hosseini Foundation. The concept for the foundation was inspired by the trip to Afghanistan that Hosseini made in 2007 with UNHCR.
He lives in Northern California with his wife, Roya, and their two children (Harris and Farah).

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Date I finished this book: 06/09/2013
Date I was ready to review this book: Never

Unfortunately, I have to review it because it is due back to the library tomorrow, so here comes my completely insufficient review.

This book is by Khaled Hosseini.


Really, what more is there to say? I knew it would be wonderful.

I have to admit that the problem I ran into was that I was comparing it to his previous two books too often. And let's face it, they were amazing. And this book is incredible in its own right, too, but it's not to be compared. So, I tried to view this as its own book (which it most certainly is) and forget I had ever read the other two and that this was the first time I was experiencing Hosseini.

I'm not going to recap. It would be pretty difficult to not give anything away. There are many stories within this one story. The characters are intertwined, although many will never realize that they are. The story comes full circle, but this is Mr. Khaled Hosseini, so I didn't expect a full blown happy ending. And *SPOILER ALERT*, I didn't really get one.

None of this business going on:


Although, I will say that maybe Disney and Hosseini are of one mind. Or at least Sebastian and Hosseini:



Yes it is, Sebastian. Yes it is.

What have I learned from this book?

We (the human race) have (mostly) good intentions. But we (mostly) do not follow through. We soothe ourselves. We convince ourselves. We justify our actions. Or our lack of actions. We have an "out of sight, out of mind" way of thinking. It's a human flaw. And sometimes it has consequences that we cannot comprehend. Consequences that we may never realize because, hey, it's out of sight. Oh sure. Just like him to point out WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME! Not that I'm taking it personally...

One thing anyone who has read my other reviews should know is that I frequently complain about:
1. Not making me care about the characters enough
2. Not being able to envision the surroundings - the people, the buildings, the culture, etc.

I don't experience this problem with this book. The writing is so rich that I felt like I was there. My emotions reflected the emotions of the characters. I was invested.

I am not ashamed to admit that I went back to chewing on my nails while reading this - a habit I gave up over a decade ago.


SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN!!!

You would think this was an edge-of-the-seat suspense novel. It's not. But it is heartbreaking. I bet I cried no less than ten times. Granted, I cried when they showed a bear on the local news that they rescued from a telephone pole, so I cry more than the average bear (ha. ha. ha.). But it was still really heartbreaking...over and over and over because there were so many intertwined stories.

I really enjoyed this book. I didn't love it in the same way I loved the previous two, but I loved it still. And I will give you a parting paragraph that is an example of the beautiful writing that makes me savor every word of this book:

Now and then, when she turned to tap ash into a saucer, I stole a quick glance at the red polish on her toenails, at the gold-tinged sheen of her shaved calves, the high arch of her foot, and always at her full, perfectly shaped breasts. There were men walking this earth, I marveled, who had touched those breasts and kissed them as they had made love to her. What was left to do in life once you had done that? Where did a man go next once he'd stood at the world's summit?



--------------------------
I just finished this. I am emotionally drained. Review coming soon.

--------------------------

04/18/2013

Did...did I just read that there is a giveaway for this? SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!



Too much?

Ok, I'll settle for cute and hope for the best. ;)



--------------------------

WHAT?! A new book by Khaled Hosseini? I can't...I just can't....I can't even think straight right now BECAUSEOHMYGOODNESSIAMSOSOSOSOSOSOSOEXCIIIIIIIIIITED!!!!!!!!



I CAN'T WAIT!!
Have I mentioned how EXCITED I AM!?
I am so excited!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

What did I think? I don't know exactly. Like his two other books, Hosseini is an excellent storyteller. He's great with words and produces images that flow like poetry. The story is touching, emotional and speaks of life's hardships and the difficult choices one must make. Deeper than that, it speaks of how the choices you make now may have a ripple effect- or echo- over time. If you don't happen to shed a tear at some point while reading, you're heartless. He captures your emotions from the very first page and he does this very well, as he did in his other novels. You find yourself transported to 1950's Afghanistan where you smile, cry, and feel pity right alongside the unfortunate characters in this book. But Hosseini tried something different with "And The Mountains Echoed" and that was incorporating a slew of different characters as opposed to just two, like he did in his last two books, and I don't know if it worked out too well. Some people could have been mentioned in passing, or not even at all, as opposed to dedicating whole chapters to them, such as Markos and Thalia's story. Also the Bashiri cousins seemed unnecessary. Even though these characters were unique in their own way and provided food for thought regarding their plights, I still felt like these chapters dragged on when I was more concerned about what was happening with the others. It was like Hosseini deliberately sucked us in, made us get cozy with Saboor and his family just to rip them away from us and branch off onto some completely different writing exercise. As the reader, I just couldn't reshape my feelings to feel another strong connection to these new characters. Regarding the writing style, the book spanned over several generations and then spoke in the first person from the point of view of different characters from the next generation which got confusing at first, especially as he jumps between past and present and even geographical locations. Furthermore, he squeezed in yet another subplot towards the end of the book (with Iqbal and the commander) and it came off sounding short and incomplete. I feel like the author could have dedicated more pages developing and telling the story of the characters we already got to know and love in the beginning, rather than introducing new, unnecessary ones halfway through the book. This format Hosseini used left a lot of open ends and a kind of longing, leaving the reader unsatisfied.

Not my favorite out of the three but still, somehow, an enjoyable read.

[Bobi Tychynski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why do people rate books before reading them? This skews the ratings and I wish people wouldn't do so...

This was my most anticipated book of all time. I couldn't wait to read and and naturally was a bit let down. My least favorite of his three.

I found the voice in some of the chapters a bit awkward.

The characters were interesting and well developed for the most part. I didn't like how the author chose to weave everything together.

There were some very well done parts -some moments that were very beautiful. I'm glad I read this but won't anticipate the next book nearly as much although I will definitely read the next one hoping to experience something powerful.

[Scarlet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's something you should know about Khaled Hosseini: All his stories have more or less, the same ingredients.

It always starts with Afghanistan in its pre-war days. The protagonists are children, guileless and innocent. Then the invasion happens. People separate, the bonds between them torn apart either by fate or by design. Many gut-wrenching chapters later, there's some kind of reunion but with a catch - there's something amiss, something unfulfilled, like a testimony to the unfairness of life.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of formulaic things. Yet, when it's Hosseini telling a story, I listen. I give in. I let his words curl around me like a blanket. I fall in love. And when it's all over, I clutch the book to my chest and weep like a child.

Because formula or no formula, Khaled Hosseini just knows how to tell a story. He knows what to say and how to say it. It's like an art he's mastered - and no matter how many times he does it, the impact of it doesn't seem to fade.

And the Mountains Echoed is an ode to siblinghood and all the joys and heartbreaks that come with it - the anguish of separation, the guilt of envy, the comfort of companionship, the burden of responsibility. Unlike his previous books, Hosseini adopts a short-story approach for this one. There are multiple narratives in multiple time-frames spread across several different countries, all connected by a common link to Afghanistan.

The writing is beautiful, as always. Sample this:

"All my life, I have lived like an aquarium fish in the safety of a glass tank, behind a barrier as impenetrable as it has been transparent. I have been free to observe the glimmering world on the other side, to picture myself in it, if I like. But I have always been contained, hemmed in, by the hard, unyielding confines of the existence that Baba has constructed for me, at first knowingly, when I was young, and now guilelessly, now that he is fading day by day. I think I have grown accustomed to the glass and am terrified that when it breaks, when I am alone, I will spill out into the wide open unknown and flop around, helpless, lost, gasping for breath."

And the Mountains Echoed was one of my most anticipated books this year and it did not disappoint. That being said, it pales in comparison to his previous works - The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Maybe it was the multiple POV thing. With so many characters and so many stories, it's inevitable that some would hit harder than the rest. Personally, I found the first half more emotionally striking - Abdullah, Nabi and Parwana's stories all made me tear up. I missed Afghanistan in the later segments.

And in case it wasn't obvious enough, I just wanted to say that I love Khaled Hosseini. If it weren't for him, I would have foolishly associated Afghanistan with just the Taliban. It's shocking how little I know about this country even though it's so close to mine.

Thank you for the culture-cum-history lessons, Mr. Hosseini. And even if your next book adheres to the formula, I'll still read it and in all likelihood, cherish it.

[Will Byrnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tale of how my father lost his sister was as familiar to me as the stories my mother had told me of the Prophet, tales I would learn again later when my parents would enroll me in Sunday school at a mosque in Hayward. Still, despite the familiarity, each night I asked to hear Pari’s story again, caught in the pull of its gravity. Maybe it was simply because we shared a name. Maybe that was why I sensed a connection between us, dim, enfolded in mystery, real nonetheless. But it was more than that. I felt touched by her, like I too had been marked by what had happened to her. We were interlocked, I sensed, through some unseen order in ways I couldn’t wholly understand, linked beyond our names, beyond familial ties, as if, together, we completed a puzzle. I felt certain that if I listened closely enough to her story, I would discover something revealed about myself.

In the opening chapter of And the Mountains Echoed, a poor father tells his children a story. A monster ravished a town until a child was offered to appease him. In order to save the rest of his family and the town, a father sacrifices his favorite child to the monster. Years later, unable to recover from the sorrow of this decision, the father scales a mountain to reach the monster’s fortress, seeking to bring his son home. But, finding that the boy is happy, well-fed, clothed and educated, he reconsiders. In this story is the core of the tales to come. Hosseini writes of the bond between parents and children, and the sacrifices some parents make to see that their children are well looked after. Does the benefit of a more comfortable home, a richer material upbringing, outweigh the loss of that natural parent-child experience? The theme of parenting, with complications well beyond the keep-or-send-away element, permeates.


Khaled Hosseini - image from his Twitter pages

The son of a wealthy local big-shot comes to realize that his comforts come at the expense of others. A massively scarred girl is left by her mother in the care of someone who is probably better suited to raise her. A young woman sacrifices years of her life to take care of an ailing parent. A war-ravaged child is taken in by one of her caregivers.

I am forever drawn to family as a recurring central theme of my writing. My earlier novels were at heart tales of fatherhood and motherhood. My new novel is a multi-generational family story as well, this time revolving around brothers and sisters, and the ways in which they love, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for each other.

There are sibling issues galore here. An ugly duckling twin gets revenge on the favored twin, but takes on a considerable burden. A brother and sister who were very close, are torn apart at an early age, and must cope with the absence, of that missing other part of themselves. Friendships that seem more like sibling-hood sprout like poppies in Helmand. A Greek boy is joined by the daughter of his mother’s best friend. She remains longer than expected. A fast, but fragile friendship forms between a rich boy in Afghanistan and the son of a poor man.

The cast here is international, as is the selection of settings. Hosseini was born in Kabul, but, as his father was an ambassador, he was exposed to the wider world. Dad was posted in Paris when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Hosseini’s time in France informs the parts of the book that are set there. Eventually his family immigrated to the USA, taking up residence in California, another site in the novel. He has visited his homeland since growing up in the West, like émigrés we meet in these pages. One Afghani emigrant struggles with the tension between remaining connected to his homeland, in a very concrete way, or maintaining his separation. How much responsibility for dealing with Afghanistan’s problems lies with those who have moved away?

Hosseini, best-selling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns returns us to a world, or rather worlds that we have seen before, a harsh Afghanistan as the emotional and table-setting core, and western locales in which are echoed the events of the old world.

…when you grow up in a Third World country, you know, poverty and affluence are juxtaposed. It's literally next door -- you don't have to go to another zip code. It's right there when you walk out in the street, and there are beggars and so on and so forth. So it becomes part of your life, and you can either not, just not reflect on it, but I must have, because I remember my stories always had to do with these things. There was always some guy who came from a very affluent background and some person who came from a much less privileged background, and their lives collided in some way, and tragedy would ensue inevitably. I mean, sort of a recurring theme in my stories

One of the points Hosseini makes here is the commonality of East and West, despite outward differences. He mirrors many of his characters’ experiences. People sacrifice themselves to care for those in need of help in both places. Parents are no less stressed in the West than in the East in terms of struggling with decisions about their children. Pain is too much for some in both worlds. In both worlds there are characters who cannot face their futures and opt out. In both worlds young people sacrifice themselves to care for others. In both worlds there are characters who are seriously damaged physically and must cope with adapting to worlds that value beauty or at the very least normalcy. In both worlds parents give up their children. We really are the same beneath our cultures and histories.

I do not have a comparative character count here, but it was my sense that this was a larger book than his first two. Each of those focused mostly on a smaller group of actors. This time it seemed there was more of an ensemble cast, in multiple stories. The links between some of the elements were a bit tenuous, as if a short story that was lying around was modified enough to serve a purpose in this larger tale and inserted. It is a large landscape and I felt that on occasion we wandered too long away from some of the primary characters, maybe lost some parts of their lives. To compensate for this, when we get back to them, we are offered a reader’s digest condensed report of what has happened since last we checked in. This created a bit of distance.
That said, there is vast world of feeling here. Not only the agony of parents who feel they must give up their children, but the pain of other sundered familial connections as well. There are deep scars of guilt for terrible acts, and the pain of love denied. There is also joy in finding a kind of love where hope was slight, in reconnecting with those long lost, with saving and being saved. The echoes in the mountains are the sounds of tears, of both anguish and joy, universal, penetrating, human. Listen.

This review is cross-posted at Coot's Reviews

=============================EXTRA STUFF

Hosseini can be found at his site, and on FB, Twitter and Instagram

12/3/13 - And the Mountains Echoed was voted the Goodreads Choice Award winner for fiction for 2013

My reviews of earlier work by Hosseini
-----2007 - A Thousand Splendid Suns
-----2003 - The Kite Runner

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every so often a book comes around that rocks you to your core. It makes you cry, laugh, think, feel and dream so intensely that when it is over you wonder where that life has gone. The characters are your friends and you realize you should probably call them because you haven't heard from them in awhile and you wonder what is going on in their lives. Then you remember that they aren't real and that seems impossible because they had a whole life that you were living for as long as you could hold off racing to the end of the book to find out what happened. As a reader I wait for books like this to come out. Sometimes its months or years before I find one. And the Mountains Echoed is one of those books. The writing is incredible, the characters are memorable and the story is woven together with extreme care. Simply amazing. I received this book as a first reads book.

[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

Oh that felt like blasphemy to type, but I’ve gotta be honest here. I loved The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, but Hosseini just missed the mark with this one.

The story begins with a father telling his children a fable of an evil div (monster) who roamed various villages and would choose a home at random. Said home would have to sacrifice one of their children, or the div would kill as many as he pleased. The father in the story is beside himself with the idea of offering one of his children to be slaughtered. That tale seems so fitting, because I can picture Hosseini at the editing table going through the same process. However, rather than opting to cull one (or a few) of the massive amounts of characters/stories in this book that were barely connected – he opted to keep them all. Unfortunately, that meant the ultimate sacrifice was my enjoyment. Too many characters – many with stories not long enough to actually to get invested in their lives.

I’m sad that I had to type that.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blown like leaves in the wind…

‘A story is like a moving train: no matter where you hop onboard, you are bound to reach your destination sooner or later.’

Within the first few pages of this book, the reader knows s/he’s in the hands of a master storyteller. In a village in rural Afghanistan, mid 1940s, a father tells a folk tale to his two young children. On the next day, they will travel to Kabul and start a chain of events that will take the reader on a journey across the world and through the decades.

The novel is made up of a series of linked and interlinked stories about members of this one family, their descendants and people whose lives they touch. Hosseini takes us back and forwards in time but each episode tells a whole story of one of the characters. This made the book feel in some ways like a collection of short stories rather than a novel, but Hosseini brings us round in a perfect circle and the last few chapters bring all these disparate episodes into one immensely moving whole.

The beauty of the writing is only matched by the humanity of the characters. Hosseini takes us inside their minds and their hearts and we see them laid bare, essentially good people but with their flaws and weaknesses exposed, to us and to themselves. Although much of the book takes place in Europe and America, Afghanistan remains at the heart of it because it remains in the hearts of the characters, even though they may have become part of the war- and poverty-driven diaspora.

A beautiful and very moving book that brought me to tears on several occasions, this isn’t fundamentally about politics or war; it is about the unforgettable people who populate its pages – about humanity. And though there is sadness and sorrow here, there is also love and joy and a deep sense of hope. Highly recommended.

NB This book was provided for review by Amazon Vine UK.

www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished reading this book on May 24, but did not write a review because I didn't want to taint the experience for many of my friends who had not yet read the book. Since then I've seen several people post where they've finished the book and how much they loved it. Unfortunately I did not love it. I was highly disappointed in this book, it was not at all what I expected. I wanted the richness of the culture, I wanted to immerse myself in the feelings and experiences of the people who live a life so totally different from anything I've experienced. But I just did not get that feeling from this book. I loved the first one third, I loved the ending, but most of the middle of the book just didn't grab me. There was way too much jumping around with the characters, and everything just moved too fast-forward in time. All the characters got old too quickly.

Perhaps because I had read his other 2 books and loved them so much, I was expecting something more similar to those. I wanted the entire story to be about Pari and Abdullah and their families, to me they ARE the story, way too much time was spent with what I considered unimportant characters and their lives. Doesn't Hosseini know his stories shouldn't be about internet, television, and airplanes?? He does so well with the culture of his country, and the traditions that form it, that's what I wanted from this book but it just wasn't there.

The ending was wonderful, I had a lump in my throat when I read that. I just wish he had taken me on a better route getting there.

[jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

well, this is definitely my least favourite KH book. its desperately lacking that magical quality that made his first two books so spectacular.

it starts off so promising. i love the atmosphere that was created and the emotional set-up for such a wonderful bond between a brother and sister. but then the story takes a completely unexpected turn - it becomes less about a brother and sister finding their way back to each other and more about the lives of secondary characters who are very distantly related to the story (in a nonlinear fashion). its just a super odd and disappointing narrative choice. the story does eventually make its way back to the brother and sister at the very end but, by that point, their importance is drastically diminished.

there are some moments of beauty in this, but its not enough for me to feel like this story lived up to its full potential.

↠ 2.5 stars

[رغد فريحات · Rating 3 out of 5]

هناك
وراء الأفكار .. عن الحق والباطل .
ثمة حقل
فيه سألتقيك
-جلال الدين الرومي



يمكنني القول ان هذا الكتاب يختلف عن أسلوب الحسيني في عداء الطائرة الورقية ويمكنني القول انني افضل اسلوبه في عداء الطائرة الورقية على ورددت الجبال الصدى ,اختار الحسيني تجنب التركيز على أي شخصية بعينها. بل كتب الكتاب بأسلوب شبيه بمجموعة من القصص القصيرة حيث ترى ان اغلب الفصول مروية من وجهة نظر شخصية مختلفة.
بني الكتاب على أساس العلاقة بين "عبد الله" ذي الأعوام العشرة وشقيقته "باري" ذات الأعوام الثلاثة والقرار الذي اتخذه والدهما وفرقهما عن بعض ، هذا هو الحدث الذي يربط القصص المختلفة معاً. يقول الحسيني أن نواياه كانت جعل الشخصيات أكثر تعقيداً وغموضاً من الناحية الأخلاقية.
والحسيني ركز في هذا الكتاب على العلاقة بين الأشقاء. فبالإضافة لعبدالله وباري، قدم الحسيني علاقات أخوية أخرى كعلاقة زوجة الأب باراوانا وشقيقتها المعاقة معصومة وطبيب أمريكي-أفغاني اسمه إدريس وابن عمه تيمور

كانت باري الشخص الوحيد في العالم الذي لن يؤذيه ولن يستطيع ان يؤذيه ابدًا ,ف بعض الأيام. كان عبد الله يشعر أنها عائلته الحقيقية الوحيدة وليس سواها.
إبتسم عبد الله في نفسه:
-حسنًا لا بأس
-ستكون قريبًا مني؟
-نعم
- حتى نصبح كبارًا ؟
-كبارًا جدًا
-إلى الأبد
-نعم الى الأبد
-وعد يا أبولله ؟
- إلى الأبد وحتى آخر العمر


يقسم حسيني روايته إلى تسعة فصول يروي كلاً منها أحد الأبطال أو يُروى عنه ليكون هو محور أحداثه ونتعرف إلى سائر الشخصيات من خلال العلاقات التي تربطهم به. يتنقل الكاتب بسلاسة بين أزمنة وأمكنة مختلفة، إذ تدور أحداث الرواية على مدى عقود طويلة في بلدان متنوعة، منها أفغانستان وأميركا وفرنسا واليونان.
ولكن هذا الأمر , أعني تعدد القصص والتنوع في البلدان جلب لي الصداع وافقدني تركيزي , وتصوير أفغانستان على أنها جحيم وتصويره لبعض الشخصيات جلب لي النفور بصراحة فلا يمكنني القول انني احببت اي شخصية او تعاطفت معها ويظهر ايضًا في هذا الكتاب التناقض بين الشخصيات
ومع خيبة الأمل التي شعرت بها في النهاية إلا انه وبصراحة كان هناك بعض المتعة التي شعرت بها


أقسم إنني مذ رأيت وجهك
صار العالم كله خدعة وخيالًا
تحير البستان فما بات يعرف الورقة من الزهرة
وتشوشت الطيور فما عادت تفرق بين البذور ... وشراك الصياد
- جلال الدين الرومي

[Emily (Books with Emily Fox on Youtube)]

The author has already broke my heart twice (The Kite Runner and The Thousand Splendid Suns) so I might as well go for more...

[Pushkar Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

And The Mountains Echoed (ATME) is a brilliant stand-alone book, however, it's not up to the mark that Khaled Hosseini set for himself with his earlier two fantastic novels. Starting with the negatives, the narration style simply didn't work out. Though Mr. Hosseini deserves a pat on the back for trying out something different this time and not sticking to a tried and tested formula by going beyond a two-person narration as in A Thousand Splendid Suns (ATSS), but this time it just somehow looks rusty in places. The editing was not up to the mark too, some parts could've been easily cut out, personally, the part of Markos and Thalia's sibling hood goes on for way too long. Along with that, ATME doesn't move you as much as the first two books did. However, coming to positives, the story is extremely beautiful. The way it places emphasis on relations between siblings or sibling-likes is refreshing and delightful. The characters are well sketched out and the imagery, as Mr. Hosseini is massively talented in, works too. Overall, the positives outweigh the negatives, however, Mr. Hosseini must keep the negatives in mind before we see a fourth one from him. He has been my all-time favourite author, and this is a great book, just not in the league of his astounding ATSS and The Kite Runner. 4/5

[Margaret M - (having a challenging time and on GR as much as I can) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for a book I loved and an author I would highly recommend.

The book opens with a ‘let me tell you a story’ which sets the scene through a dark fairy tale of some hardships, traumas and separations to come in the lives of the many people in the book. A story first and foremost about relationships, the endurance of love, loyalty and the unbreakable bonds between family and friends.

For this I give the book an enormous 5 stars as we are immersed into the relationships, particularly of the two children. Their aspirations, pains, trials, loves and losses, set against a backdrop of war, surviving devastation and with a tyrannical ruler, the Taliban, which made this another incredibly thought-provoking story.

If I compare this to the authors other two books; The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, this one was not as impactful and didn’t possess the dramatic and gripping turn of events that its predecessors did, which left me a little disappointed. The book dragged a little in places and there were too many switches between the people, locations and timeframes.

Nevertheless, this was still an excellent book by an excellent author and storyteller who has certainly played his part in exposing the treatment of people and particularly women in the Middle East, and in this story of Afghanistan. We are presented with a very credible view and deep insight into the lives of so many people we know to have had similar experiences to the people in the story. I love that Hosseini tells the story and exposes the troubled lives without being too judgmental. Instead, he leaves the reader to piece together the whole picture which I feel is much more effective and impactful.

“It was the kind of love that, sooner or later, cornered you into a choice: either you tore free or you stayed and withstood its rigor even as it squeezed you into something smaller than yourself.”

Travelling - will add the plot later in the week.

4.5 rounding down because it didn’t quite hit the mark the other two books did.

[Marialyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know how you hate when a good book ends? You know you have to keep reading, reading, reading because you just can't stop and yet you are ever so mad when the book does just that? You know how you feel like wow! how can I find another like this, a book as good, a book as well written, a book that has touched you in so many places? This is one of those books. Mr Hosseini has written a brilliant novel which is about family, its importance, its closeness even though one is continents away, and its ability to love through the years and separation.

AS I was nearing the end, I had to think how this could have been anyone's story. Separated because of poverty, uprooted because of conflict, this family beset by many tragedies pushes forward. They reconnect and reunite in a future that looks to be bright and loving every bit as loving as that love which transpired between a brother and a sister so very long ago.

This author has definitely a kindred mind with the human spirit. He speaks so well of people, making the reader get to know his characters on so many levels. He is a gifted storyteller and one who makes the pages fly as the thoughts of things held dear become a focus of one's life. He is able to see and portray so well that one's past can and often does have repercussions long after the incidents of life have intruded and that perhaps in reality it is through one's family that you can go home again even though Thomas Wolfe might disagree.

This book can't come more highly recommended by this reader. It presents us all with the concept that no matter what country, nationality, heritage you may bring with you, the family and its core of love is ultimately the greatest equalizer to humanity.

[Baba · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a small village in remote Afghanistan in the 1950s a family makes a sacrifice that echoes across the mountains from Kabul, through to Paris, London, Greece and Northern California over the next seven decades, this is the story of those echoes. And, just wow, what stories! Centred around the remote village and a house in Kabul, Hossseini tells the personal stories in first person of an eclectic cast made of the village family members and their descendants, the Kabul house owners, the later residents and other people whose live were impacted by the echo of that original sacrifice. A pot pourri of characters that uncover the past and then the ensuing decades. And. This. Book. Is. Genius.

The weird thing was that after reading The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns I had no other choice but to expect genius from this book, so ha very high expectations; the startling thing was that after reading the heart rending first chapter set in the village from a child's viewpoint I was already completely sold! Hosseini says that his characters write themselves and reading this wondrous saga underlines his feelings!

What could have easily been a work looking at the changes in Afghanistan over a century is anything but; this is an amazingly detailed and authentic feeling characters' (plural) study of family, sacrifice, self awareness, survival and most of all identity as soon through the eyes of people connected by the ripple effect, the echoes of a momentous sacrifice made in Kabul in 1957. This. Book. Is. Genius. 10 out of 12.

2022 read

[Nenette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pebble thrown in a pool of water creates ripples; never just one, but countless of them. This is what this story is all about. An uncle’s suggestion led to a father’s decision, and there was no stopping what happened afterwards. The ripples were so vast it looked almost impossible to trace back to the central plop that the pebble created; but secrets are meant to be revealed, truths are meant to be uncovered. The story played out through many decades in at least five countries among a myriad of characters, and yet not once did I feel lost or confused while reading it. I feel for Abdullah and Pari, and I am glad that somehow there was redemption for them at the end, even if one can say that it was not too complete because of Abdullah’s condition.

Another masterpiece from Mr. Hosseini, and may I say that in this third novel, he put the notch for himself much higher that it should be an exciting wait for the next one.

[Fabian · Rating 4 out of 5]

One terrific novel. Great to know: the page-turning literary novel is alive & well in the 2010s!

The intersecting stories are all pearls of a deep maudlin color mauve. Blue, frozen stories which, because of their humanity, resound like the echoes in mountains. (An interesting motif regarding the immobility of singular fates, &/or the full circle reconciliation with the past.)

Wholeheartedly recommended to me by my pal Segen, & I in turn also wanna do the same.

[Lynne King · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my biggest disappointment with a book of all time, purely because Khaled Hosseini is one of my favourite authors. I loved his two previous books, “The Kite Runner” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns” but somehow I couldn’t get interested in the same way I did with his previous books. They both had so much depth. I think the fact that I lived in Saudi Arabia for many years possibly helped in that I could relate to them the way I did.

But this book, well I found it to be “long winded” and not to my satisfaction at all and consequently I did skim read to my shame.

The first chapter was excellent about Baba Ayub and the div. The choice that he had to make seemed to form the basis for the rest of the book.

Abdullah and his sister Pari were really interesting but then I began to get lost in the book and rapidly my interest waned. Sad…

The hardback looked the part but something was missing from this book. In my mind, it had no soul. I will, of course, read his next book but I wonder whether in fact he “has been there, done Afghanistan” and needs to move on to fresh pastures? He is a wonderful storyteller and perhaps pressures from the publishing world caused him to write in this particular convoluted way? I don’t know but nevertheless I look forward to reading his next book.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 5 out of 5]

*top 10 favourite ever*
*top 10 memorable book ever*

*Need to reread

The most underrated book of all times 🗣️🗣️🗣️

[Henry Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abdullah 10, is very close to his little sister Pari 3, his poor family living inside a mud house, in Shadbagh , a small village of Afghanistan, days walk from Kabul the capital, but the boy's whole life is taking care of this precious girl child, washing her, keeping the sister clean, playing and giving the baby things, reciting poems, taking the tiny female on rambles, doesn't matter, just content to be together, they are like twins...His kind mother has died and the stepmother Parawana , is indifferent to their needs, besides she has a child of her own a male... to occupy her time , the surviving proud, strict parent Saboor ignores the two, too busy scratching out an existence , providing for his family's survival in the farm fields, just another laborer during the early 1950's trying to prevent starvation to his dependents . However an unbelievable event happens Pari is sold to a rich, childless couple, Suleiman Wahdati, a very private man even a recluse, and his sophisticated, beautiful, fun loving wife Nila, half French, she likes to have drinking parties, where everyone smokes in this traditional muslim society, at home, still feeling uncomfortable in such an intensely conservative country...though in Kabul, an unhappy marriage obviously ; the "adoption" arranged by Abdulla's stepmother's brother, "Uncle" Nabi... He, all his life regrets the idea, ( a big mistake that cripples his ambitions) to buy this pretty, talented girl, the chauffeur who works for them, the wealthy pair, in the large, frightening, cosmopolitan city of ever expanding Kabul...Abdullah howls in anguish ...the only person he loves has been taken cruelly away...it will change the destiny of many in the future. This third novel by Khaled Hosseini can't match the previous others, about the lives of scattered families and friends , in Afghanistan, France, Greece, and the United States... resembles more a bunch of short stories loosely connected , than a real novel, he is like an intense juggler with too many toys in the air, his thoughts divided, unfocused, uneasy , only so long can he keep these objects floating above, before they come crashing down to the floor causing havoc...it is a shame. If the writer had stayed with Abdullah and Pari as the main characters this would have been a great book... bored authors like to do different things, experiment, change their style , hoping to surprise readers but instead hurt the product not fatally here, it is still quite good, yet a slow puncture wound proves costly and the victim is us ...taking a long time to recover, nevertheless it hurts...people including writers are resilient, the future can be bright. Another day arriving and optimism coming with it...

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to review. Hosseini is a good storyteller, but I have the same complaint about this book as I did with The Kite Runner, which is that they are too precious. As in, roll-your-eyes, on-the-nose precious.

But before I focus on the negative, let me share the positive: This is an impressive story that spans generations and continents. Each chapter is told from a different character's point of view, and each section builds on the events that have come before, and by the end we have covered more than 60 years of a family's story.

The book opens with a legend about a giant who would go to a village and demand a child be sacrificed to him. A father was forced to give up his favorite son, and he was so heartbroken and upset that he later left the village to try and retrieve him from the giant. But when he arrived at the giant's house after many days of walking, he saw that his son was happy and was living a better life than he could have provided. The giant takes pity on the father and gives him a potion to help him forget his son. But did the father ever really forget?

The meaning of this legend is soon made evident when we meet a boy, Abdullah, who is forced to say goodbye to his beloved sister, Pari, who is being sent to Kabul to be adopted. In the next chapter we meet the woman who will become Abdullah's stepmother, then we meet Abdullah's uncle, then we meet some cousins who used to be neighbors of the uncle... and so on, and so on.

There are many good moments in the book, such as when a character recognizes their selfishness and vows to do better. Or when relatives have been reunited after a long separation because of the war. And as the story unfolds, we must ask if Pari was better off being adopted, or should she have stayed with her family in the village?

A minor complaint of mine is I think Hosseini skimped on details of the wars in Afghanistan and on the clashes with the Taliban. True, he covered this in previous books, and in this book one of the characters wrote in a letter that the wars have been well-documented elsewhere, so there's no point in describing it. But I disagree, because I think it was a bit of laziness on the author's part. This is a story about an Afghanistan family from the 1950s to present day. The war violently disrupted the country and the family, and yet here it only surfaces as background noise. (For readers who want to know more about Afghanistan during this time period, I recommend the memoir The Favored Daughter by Fawzia Koofi.)

For most of the book I was prepared to give it four stars, but about three-fourths of the way through I grew weary of the too precious dialogue, the characters who were just too earnest and understanding, and the seemingly endless exposition. (What pushed me over the edge was the extended section in Greece, which I think could have been cut entirely.) I think Hosseini is a big bestselling author because he tells good stories -- and for most people, that is enough. But when I compare him to my other favorite novelists, his books leave me wanting something more.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1952 a poor Afghan family - Saboor, his second wife Parwana, his son Abdullah, 10, and daughter Pari, 3 are in dire straits in the town of Shadbagh, Afghanistan.



Having recently lost a baby to the frigid Afghan winter Saboor decides to sell Pari to the Wahdatis - a wealthy childless couple in Kabul - to provide a better life for his family.



This sets up the baseline for the story that reverberates down through multiple characters and generations.....which the author relates almost as a series of short stories.

In one story line we learn that Parwana's brother Nabi, chauffeur and houseman to the Wahdatis, brokered the sale of Pari, a deed that haunts him for the rest of his life.



His motive, apparently, is his infatuation with Nila (Mrs. Wahdati) - who is unable to have children. Soon enough Mr. Wahdati becomes ill and Nila takes off for France with Pari.



Nabi, an indispensable aide to Mr. Wahdati, is left to take care of his employer and eventually friend.

In another section the author tells the story of Nila and a grown up Pari living in Paris. Nila is a poet whose writing scandalizes traditonal Afghans, and Pari is a talented student studying advanced mathematics. The relationship between Nali and Pari, as can happen with mothers and daughters, is sometimes difficult - and romance only adds to the tension.





I was especially struck by this story line, musing that Pari's life was exponentially different (and better in my opinion) than it would have been with her birth family. Does this justify selling a child? Probably room for debate there.

Other chapters are equally engaging. We find out that Saboor's second wife Parwana has a terrible secret of her own and that Saboor and Parwana's grandchildren become refugees when Shadbagh is taken over by Afghani war criminals.



We also discover that a grown-up Abdullah eventually emigrates to America with his wife and daughter, also named Pari.



Especially poignant are two separate stories of young girls with disfigured faces, one due to a dog bite, the other caused by a horrendous family tragedy. Both girls profoundly affect the people in their lives.

All these stories, and a number of others, are illuminating and engaging; they also provide a glimpse of Afghan culture that many people are not familiar with.





The book comes full circle when Pari, who has no memory of the event, learns of the circumstances of her adoption - and realizes why she has always felt that something was missing in her life.

This is a wonderfully written book, well-worth reading. Highly recommended.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Khaled Hosseini kills me. His writing seems to wound me as I'm reading his books. I remember when I read the Kite Runner I had to stop for a week or so to psyche myself up to finish it because it made me so sad. (I think I must be getting soft in my old age.) His writing rides a raw edge between nostalgia and pain: you don't want bad things to happen to his characters because they are already deeply wounded by circumstance. But then another part of me gets inspired to write when I read his work. I love how he gently handles these flawed, vulnerable creatures. They are pummeled and worked over again and again, but at the same time they are also luminescent with authenticity.


It's excellent.

[Nimra khalid · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG..! OMG..!
OMG..! OMG..! OMG..!
OMG..! OMG..! OMG..! OMG..!
Oh-MY-GOD..!
(that pretty much Explains my reaction after seeing that a new book by Khaled Hosseini Is coming..!)

....................................................................................

Seeing this review and 66 likes makes me smile..
After all the excitements and waiting, I practically ruined this book by trying to read it when I was not fit for reading.
OH well, I can add another thing to my ever growing long list of regrets and things that I could have done "not Wrong'.

Review to come..! This book deserves some words from me.

[بثينة العيسى · Rating 5 out of 5]

حكواتي فطري، وبارع.. كالعادة.

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Damn, And the Mountains Echoed made me cry. I just finished it. Gosh, why did it upset me so much?! And will others react as I have? Is it just stupid me? I can point at a million things that are wrong with the book....and yet, it has done something right since it has undeniably moved me. Rarely do books make me cry.

OK, here is what I think is going on, in my head and in my heart:

I will start with what is simple, but very important. This is the first book I have listened to where I would advise very strongly that you read the paper book rather than listen to the audio version. There are three narrators: the author (Khaled Hosseini), a woman (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and a second male narrator (Navid Negahban). The latter two slur English words to such an extent that you must decipher what is being said by the context of the words. Cheek sounds like chick; swim sounds like "sweem"; breeze sounds like bees; words sounds like wards; shut sounds like shot; launches sounds like lunches. Must I go on? The woman's voice is so muted that you must increase the volume. I liked Hosseini's reading of the introductory fairy tale, but then later he enunciates every darn letter. Quite simply, the narration is unprofessional. Furthermore, why in the world have they even bothered to use three different narrators? The book shifts to different locations around the world - France, Greece and the US. I would have preferred three narrators: one fluent in French, one in Greek and one in American, or just one narrator that speaks fluent English. They all spoke what I think was meant to be English with an Afghan accent; let's just say poor English. Some of the characters lived in France since their early youth. The narration is so poor that it detracts from one's appreciation of the author's words. Read the paper book!

This book is about an Afghan family, starting at the end of the 40s and ending a decade into the 21st Century. It is about the how the 20th Century has split families. It isn't unusual today to find members of one family spread all over the world. What does this do to us? And what is the essence of family....if we do not live near each other and if we do not have daily contact, hands on contact. Are we still bound to each other? Does family remain family?

The book begins with a bedtime story, which is as I originally thought the central message of the entire book. So pay attention. The beginning is also the best part of the book, because there in the beginning you most intimately rub shoulders with the main characters. These characters will have children and grandchildren and spouses and friends and you never really come to know them as you do the first ones. The central theme of the book IS based on the choices that are made by the first characters we meet. Later chapters deal with one family and then another family or friend. They can almost be seen as separate stories, but yes they do all come together at the end. The problem is that the book does not succeed in bringing all of these diverse stories to life. Neither are all the different places brought to life. Afghanistan was well portrayed, but not Paris, not California, not Greece! The book tries to do too much. Or is it that Hosseini has best captured that which he knows best? I will credit him in his attempt to show what happens to "family" in today's globalized world.

But none of the above is really what brought the tears to my eyes. We love someone, and even if we try our hardest to make the best choices, even if we sacrifice our own personal needs, still one can be left with such emptiness. Sometimes that emptiness simply cannot be filled. Sometimes we try our best, but so much is misunderstood. Life is damn messy. There can be a wonderful blessing in forgetting. I know that sounds crazy, but it is true. The book explains this better than I have.

[Piyush Bhatia · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 100th book review on Goodreads and I'm glad that this review belongs to a book written by one of the best writers that I have read.

The way we love, the way we take care of one another, and the way our choices resonate through generations. A quick one - liner synopsis of the book!

Different than the Kite Runner and Thousand Splendid Suns, And the Mountains Echoed is about a young brother and sister who have become the unwitting victims of their family's plight. I think that this novel was not an absolute masterpiece like kite runner in particular and thousand splendid suns as well, but it'd also be unfair to say that it was not capable of arousing emotions through its poignancy the way other 2 novels did. So I find this book a bit difficult to review, also due
to the fact that it is written by one of my favourite writers!

The Kite Runner was primarily focused on the dynamics between a father and a son; Splendid Suns on the relation between a mother and a daughter; Mountains Echoed is centered on the rapport between siblings. More importantly, not just one sibling but a several pairs of brothers and sisters — a theme which is constantly refracted through the novel. So Mountains Echoed follows a non - linear storyline wherein the characters involved aren't directly connected to each other but share some collective misfortune.
As Khalid Hosseini has himself pointed out, comparing the plot to a tree, and stating that the story "just branched out" and "got bigger and bigger as it went along".


What I really admire about Hosseini's works (including this one) is that at the 'core' of his work lies a love story - not a love story in the traditional sense of the word but a love story in the (most) agonizing of times and between characters where love is not expected to be found but is developed as the story takes turns! Such unflinching love is bound to be truly profound and which is what Hosseini excels at in his books. Strenuous times reveal the greatest of characters and character - boy it is 'the' highest virtue in my eyes!
As is said, it takes chaos to give birth to a dancing star!

Rating: 4.4 rounded to 4

[Joyeeta (Dauntless, I Choose You!) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Speechless ✓
Swollen eyes ✓
Messed up mind ✓
Bitter sweet feeling ✓
Craving for more time to spend with the characters ✓

Here is what I have been trying to do for the last one hour (before helplessly falling asleep)-

Aim: To write a review of the book.
Result: Several crumpled pages.
Reason: Mind full of emotions but out of words.
Conclusion: I will be left like this each and every time I read a book written by Khaled Hosseini.

Hosseini is a 'magician' who captures your mind with the simple tricks of powerful words and leaves you weeping silently but gifts you with a beautiful yet sad feeling. This time he has come up with an intriguing story of the siblings, Pari and Abdullah. The story may not be so special as The Kite Runner but the love the brother and the little sister share is unique.

All I want to do now is thank Mr. Hosseini for giving me the character of Abdullah with whom I can share so many feelings. The bitter-sweet longings I felt years ago when my sister left home for college, all came rushing back when Pari was taken away from poor little Abdullah.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has probably been my most anticipated new release for a very long time. Like many people, I was totally awestruck by Hosseini's first novel The Kite Runner. His second; A Thousand Splendid Suns is up there in my Top Five Books, I was astounded by the story. Bearing this in mind, and despite my delight at acquiring a pre-publication copy of And The Mountains Echoed, I was a little nervous that I may be a little disappointed.

Khaled Hosseini's fans do have to wait a long time between books, its been five years since A Thousand Splendid Suns. I can truthfully say that this is certainly worth that very very long wait.

This is a story that spans generations, yet starts and finishes with the same characters. In 1952 a father and his two young children are travelling across Afghanistan, father has been promised some much needed work. The children; Abdullah and his little sister Pari are happy to be together, they adore each other and Abdullah has become more of a parent than a brother to Pari. When their mother died just after giving birth to Pari and then their father re-married and new half-siblings joined the family, Abdullah took on the protection and care of Pari. Neither of them can know that this journey will be the beginning of heartbreak that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

With heart-breaking realism, Hosseini tells the tale of a family split apart by poverty and desperation. From the small rural villages to the large bustling cities of Afghanistan, the writing transports the reader into the heart of the story, experiencing the sounds, the smells and the changing political landscapes. From immense poverty, to the greatest riches. From the modest and humble, to the arrogant and the proud, the cast of characters are a triumph.

That one event in Kabul in 1952 leads on to many others, including characters and settings from Paris, to the Greek Islands and back to Afghanistan. Characters who appear, on the face of it, to be so different and so diverse are all connected in one way or another to the day that a loving father told his two small children the story of farmer Baba Ayub - it is this story, and its meaning that is threaded through the whole novel and which eventually turns from a fable to the truth.

Whilst And The Mountains Echoed does not have the shock-factor of Hosseini's two previous novels, it is still a very important epic story that will leave a mark on anyone who reads it. The cast of characters is huge and the narrative often slips back and forward, which can at times, appear a little disjointed. However, this really does not detract from the story, or from the wonderfully evocative writing.

Once again, Khaled Hosseini has produced a story that will break hearts and leave his fans, new and old, gasping for more.