And the Mountains Echoed

Khaled Hosseini writes gripping fiction here that pulls out the import of each of the choices and actions we make. This story is far less difficult to read, graphically, than The Kite Runner and takes a different perspective than A Thousand Splendid Suns ( which is a fantastic novel). The tragedy of human relationships, mental blocks, fears, and loves are magnified through the lives of generations.

Characters are developed internally, so the reader can relate to their views, biases, hopes, and pains while still able to see the characters mistakes and misjudgments by having the bigger picture supplied by other characters.

The story is certainly a tragedy (to me) but it is beautiful and real. Read it!

I had high hopes (or rather standards) for And The Mountains Echoed considering the undying adoration for Hosseini's first two novels. This one was really disappointing in the way that it read. My main issue was that it had too many characters; it jumped from one to another, breaking up the story and causing me to flip back through the book multiple times trying to figure out who this character now telling the story is. Hosseini broke up this story into pieces, so many pieces that I honestly don't know what story he was trying to tell anymore. It lacked in feeling and flow and made me yearn for the powerful voice I read in The Kite Runner. I won't stop reading Hosseini but I won't have such high hopes for his next book and that's what is most disappointing.

Beautiful book. The character-crafting and word economy is impressive.