And the Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini

 

This is my third Hosseini book, and having loved both The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns I was highly anticipating this one. It's safe to say that And the Mountains Echoed did not disappoint! The novel is once again set primarily in Afghanistan, mainly Kabul, though Hosseini also includes other locations for this novel. The story begins in 1952 with siblings Pari and Abdullah, who live in poverty in Shadbagh with their father Saboor and their stepmother Parwana. Abdullah is around ten years old and Pari three or four, and she is effectively raised by her older brother - the pair are completely inseparable. 

When the children and their father journey into Kabul, the big city, the siblings have no inkling of the fate which lies before them. Before Abdullah knows what is happening, his sister is whisked away from him, sold to a childless couple so that their father can support his family with the extra money.

The novel spans from the 1950s to the 2010s and introduces multiple narratives, all ultimately fitting together to reveal the truth about what happened to Pari. Finally we come full circle and end back with the siblings at the end of the novel, in a highly emotional ending.

Hosseini writes in part in an epistolary format, with letters between different characters which fill in a different piece in the puzzle. As we know by now, I love expansive and far-reaching novels which span multiple decades as you can really feel that you've been on a journey with the characters.

My only slight reservation about the novel was the amount of perspectives, many more than he usually portrays, which meant that some of the individual narratives seemed unfinished. There were some loose ends which I would've liked tying up, though I believe it was the author's aim to leave the story on a more ambiguous note. Once again, Hosseini absolutely blew me away with another brilliant novel!