And the Mountains Echoed: Global Afghanistan

Khaled Hosseini is widely celebrated for his evocative prose that lends beauty and humanity to the land of Afghanistan. His first two novels, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, captured an unfamiliar culture and distilled it down to its essence by focusing on family relationships and the people caught up in the country's troubled history. His latest novel, And the Mountains Echoed, is an epic spanning several generations and continents, which explores the progress of interconnected Afghani families from the early 20th century into the 21st.

The book begins with a bedtime story. Related in a traditionally simple but vivid style, the story instantly draws you into rural Afghanistan, a world that contains many literary riches despite its abject poverty. The narrative centers on Abdullah and Pari, a brother and sister who share a remarkable bond and love each other dearly. Unfortunately, their happiness can't last, and the separation of these seemingly inseparable siblings sets off a story that radiates from Afghanistan into France, Greece, and the United States. Each chapter tells the story of one character, but each story draws in characters from all over the world, all of whom have some connection (either direct or indirect) to the story of Abdullah and Pari. As characters live and die and the brother and sister move further apart across the globe, you read on with urgency, wondering if they will ever be reunited.

At times this novel feels more like a collection of short stories. If you don't read some chapters closely, you could easily miss a reference to an important character - just because someone is only a minor figure in one character's life, it doesn't mean they aren't a major figure in the overall narrative. Eventually you start to see how all of these stories are weaving themselves together into one coherent story, and you discover that every person has his or her part to play in this epic tale.

The sprawling style of And the Mountains Echoed makes it a compelling read but also dilutes the emotional impact of the story. Unlike Hosseini's earlier, more intimate works, it is harder to identify memorable characters, particularly because you don't spend much time reading about any one individual. Just when you're getting fond of one man, you begin reading the story of a woman half a world away, and you can't sustain your affection for any character for long. From a literary standpoint, it is a beautiful story beautifully told, but it doesn't leave a lasting impression on your heart.