Reading "And The Mountains Echoed" by Khalid Hosseini

It’s always quite difficult to choose between books especially if they are by world acclaimed, genius authors like Dan Brown or Khaled Hosseini. Definitely I had no plans of reading them simultaneously so it had to be one of them.

Dan Brown’s Inferno and Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed are both widely famous, contemporary best sellers.  Since it’s been quite some time that I had read a novel by the latter so I decided to begin reading Khaled Hosseini’s and gave Dan Brown’s to my sister.

Belonging to Pakistan, for me, reading Khaled Hosseini’s novels are an entirely different experience mainly owing to the fact that I can easily relate to the atmosphere, the context and the religious backgrounds discussed in them and pertaining to Afghanistan; neighboring us on the north-west border. The situation in our country is not the same as of our neighbor but surely one may find resembling pictures of varied instances given the similar religious backgrounds and historical journey’s we have traversed together in the past four decades.

Khaled Hosseini has a unique writing style; he is a master craftsman when it comes to developing stories especially the unexpected twists and the spectacular descriptions of backgrounds and characters alluring the reader in an altogether beautiful and different experience.

The story is placed in Shadbagh, a fictional place in Afghanistan and picks up with three integral characters of the entire novel namely, Saboor and his two children Abdullah (his son) and Pari (His daughter). It is situated back in 1952 and travels along one generation to the next of this household to the fall of 2010. In between the author does not leave a single pixel of the canvas empty and fills it with elaborate descriptions and narrations of all the other characters that are attached with this family.

Even if for a while I had missed a single personality whether it be Iqbal (the step brother of Abdullah), the chauffer Nabi, the Wahdati family or even their neighbors Timur and Idris (of the Bahsiri family), Markos family or any other person in the novel, the author had assured that the reader (in this case myself) remember it by narrating a full description of the characters till the purpose was achieved. 

In short, every character who could possibly tell a story was related in an impeccable fashion. It would reveal to the reader an entirely unique person whose life presented a mosaic of personality

traits with a lesson for the reader to infer.

The story revolves around the siblings Abdullah and Pari whose strong bond of love and affection is simply majestic. I admire how the author depicts their relationship especially at the start. Abdullah being elder to Pari, only by few years, is just like a fatherly figure to her. Following the death of their mother, he showers utmost care and consciousness for her little sister, unaware of the tragic separation that their relationship waits to be marred with. Whether they ever meet in their lives again, I leave that to you to discover.

The story among other aspects also sheds light to the mayhem, the Taliban and other warring tribes of Afghanistan bring to the serenity, beauty and life of the country. The very basic human life, in almost every part of the country, especially in the 1990’s and later in the US–led NATO war period is ripped apart, crippled and devastated.

The overly suspicious character of Mr. Suleiman Wahdati, the helpful and generous chauffer and

All novels by Khaled Hosseini

cook Nabi, the gorgeous but highly controversial character of Ms. Nila Whadati are some of the intriguing personalities you must watch out for when perusing the novel.

Lastly I must admit that Khaled Hosseini has produced a yet another magnum opus which if read once would remain inscribed to the memory of the person; the story cannot be forgotten and continues to provide insight to the some harsh as well as beautiful realities of our life.

I found a sad little fairy

Beneath the shade of a paper tree

I know a sad little fairy

Who was blown away by the wind one night

(I leave the above stanza for you to find in the novel. Discover its significance and true meaning and cherish the master class of the composition)