And the Mountains Echoed - by Khaled Hosseini

When you hear about a new book from the man behind “The Kite Runner” and “ A thousand splendid Suns”, you expect the same Emotional journey woven across each page. You expect the same level of Characterisation and understanding and yes of course a grip so strong which will take you to the time zone the storyteller wants you to. What you don’t expect out of this book is a happy Ending, and you don’t get one. This new book from Khalid Houessini is an amazing, if not perfect  blend of all the above. His first two books left me awestruck, took me to a different world altogether where I saw the state of Afghanistan in a new light... And this one Is no exception. Once you start the book, it's hard to put it down and if you absolutely must break off to do something else, you're impatient to get back to it.

Storyline :- Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their father and step-mother in the small village of Shadbagh. Their father, Saboor, is constantly in search of work and they struggle together through poverty and brutal winters. To Adbullah, Pari, as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named, is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their skulls touching, their limbs tangled. 

One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand. Crossing generations and continents, moving from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos, with profound wisdom, depth, insight and compassion, Khaled Hosseini writes about the bonds that define us and shape our lives, the ways that we help our loved ones in need, how the choices we make resonate through history, and how we are often surprised by the people closest to us. Each of these signed, limited editions comes in a beautifully designed cloth-bound slipcase.

Within the first few pages, you know what's coming. You can feel cracks begin to open in your heart. The departing scene of Abdullh and Pari was very well written, with less words and so much of unsaid emotions. The surroundings and scene are described in very much Hoessini style, taking you to the land totally and making you imagine being a part of it. Afghanistan is a Country which is not being told in many stories and movies. And his are the books, which let World know and understand how it was, before the unfortunate incidents happen there. And that is what makes these books so special and unforgettable.

The storyline, although gripping and fast paced, go off the places once or twice with the Time leap. In some pages, the Time leap is just too big, too vast to accommodate in just one chapter. He could have extended the pages very easily, at least 100 of them, don’t know if they have to work on keeping it short too. But I would have loved to read more about the characters, especially when there are too many of them. You start connecting with one and the  other emerges at the same time, leaving the previous story at a cliff hanger pause. Although most of it got together at the end, sill I felt that either the number of pages could have been increased or the number of characters could be less.

The main story of Abdullah and Pari meanders too much to really penetrate your heart. Hosseini uses the tale of the siblings as a kind of springboard for tales about people around the siblings, which means that Abdullah and Pari never get the kind of attention they really deserve and you, the reader, never really feel their pain. It happened so many times that I really, really wanted to know more about both of them and it was only in the last chapter that I got to see their re union. Which is a pity, really. Because it's always heart-breaking when a book with so much potential for the capture of emotion ultimately turns out to be something you'll have forgotten in some time. 

If I can take something from this book it's that, you never regret an act of kindness. And that, relationships are immortal. Hosseini is just brilliant in making you feel such emotions from within, being a fabulous spinner of stories, in that old fashioned way. 

This novel allows the reader to see, smell, touch, hear and feel the decades old suffering if these people, Not too light, not too intellectually taxing, but totally engrossing all the same. An amazing read for those who havent read his first two books, but for those who expect the same level of work, you have to start afresh with this one.