Book Review: And the Mountains Echoed

Title:          And the Mountains Echoed

Author:       Khaled Hosseini

Publisher:    Bloomsbury India

ISBN:          978-9-3829-5100-1

MRP:           Rs 599

Pages:         402

Finally, I finished reading this book! Ever since I got to know that Khaled Hosseini’s third book is on stands, I was way too excited. His earlier novel, ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ is one of my favorite books and I was expecting magic this time as well. However, I was left disappointed, rather irritated. Let me get to the point quickly. The book is about many people and their personal lives described in fine details.

In a nutshell, this is the story of two poor siblings, Abdullah and Pari from a small Village in Afghanistan, who get separated in their childhood. Pari is adopted by Nila Wahdati, a rich but depressed half Afghan-half French poet. Her driver Nabi (Pari’s step uncle), plans and arranges all this because of his silent crush on her, for he cannot tolerate the sadness of a childless Nila. She later leaves both, her paralyzed husband and Nabi, to settle in Paris with Pari. Then after many decades, the siblings do meet but by then Abdullah suffers from senile dementia and Pari from rheumatism. The main theme of the book, the union of siblings, has been described in the last part that too in an insipid way.  

No single character can be called a protagonist. It is more like a complex potpourri of their lives and emotions, somewhat like diary entries. Author’s experiment with the time lines only leads to a greater confusion. The story keeps jumping from 1950s to early and late 2000s and every chapter is set in a different year, in a different country. He describes the lives of people living in various continents and countries, joined only by a hair thin relation and sometimes none at all. Various tracks like that of Thalia, Amara, Bashir cousins, Baba Jan, Masooma, etc seem to be superfluous. The author goes on to describe minute details like the colour and specifications of a music system, decor of eateries and so on. Abdullah’s character remains unexplored till the end while that of Pari has been given more than tolerable importance. The portrayal of Thalia’s childhood, her stepfather, her delinquent mother, to Baba Jan, his son Adel etc just adds more pages to the novel. They have nothing much to do with the main plot, (if you find one). Had these not been there, the novel would have been simpler and thinner by at least 100 pages. Many times I felt like leaving the book midway as some parts can really test your patience!

The descriptions of real Afghan life are missing (which is another shortcoming) for most of the time the author keeps shifting time lines and describes the urban lives of developed countries like America, Greece and France. This time, Hosseini has strayed from his typical old school storytelling into a new style that seems to spill only chaos. Also, the narrative is in third person but all of a sudden, last two chapters begin in the first person narrative leaving the readers perplexed.

 

This plot could have been developed really well. It is an example of a great idea poorly executed. I hope in his next novel, Hosseini sticks to what he does best- weaving stories having an old world charm reflecting the real life and culture of Afghanistan. I would give this book 4/10. 

PS: I like the cover page but wonder how the name (And the Mountains Echoed) is related to the plot???  

                                                                    

                                                                                                    

Author's Image From: http://www.schibstedforlag.no/no/Kategorier/Authors/Khaled-Hosseini/