Just finished reading And the mountains echoed by Khaled Hosseini. For the last 5 days I stayed glued to this book without caring much about the world around me. Not that it is arresting from beginning to end. The moment I decide to set aside the book concluding it as dragging and depressing, it again catches my attention. The characters in the book haunted me and stayed around me even when I was doing my daily chores. The book is all about characters and how they are bonded with each other - beyond age, culture, gender or even by their nature. Hosseini has sketched the characters brilliantly, comparing them, contrasting them but still weaving them in a tale together. His language is elite and classy, and descriptions enjoyable. But sometimes it gets too draggy and you feel like editing at a bit. Narratives happen in first person and third person and as the story goes back and forth can get a bit confusing. But you will get a grip in a page or two. When it gets a bit draggy, dont mind skipping few pages in between. Hosseeini's detailing can be a bit naggy sometimes for an impatient reader like me. As the story progresses, you get a glimpse of the political and cultural background of Afganistan and the state of affairs after being invaded by Russians to Taliban. It moves you more than the news items you must have read about the atrocities of Taliban regime. He vividly explains what is it to be born in Afganistan in a troubled era.
As the story moves to Europe, you find in characters, inner conflicts, a sense of lost identity and a pining for what is not, so characteristic of Europe where growth has shunted and people have to deal with a lost glory, but still maintain that everything is alright. But when you start feeling edgy, the author tells you that all is not lost and there is still hope. And then again the story moves to America where many Asians have seeked asylum, in a hope to run away from a life of ruins and darkness. But again as most immigrants, they refuse to let go their past. They live in their past their whole life, but what is more sad is that they hold back their children too from emerging from this distant past which they have only heard about from their parents.
The book has tried and tested formulas but with a refreshing tone. The folklore which is narrated at the beginning of the book sets a mythic tone, but the author drags us back to the harsh realities of life by narrating the agony of Abdullah who is torn apart from his sister when she was sold to a rich couple in Kabul. Finally, the book takes a close look at how the choices made by parents affect their children and leave a mark/scar in their lives.
Read it, if you are ready to go through those emotional conflicts and agony of the characters for a few days.
As the story moves to Europe, you find in characters, inner conflicts, a sense of lost identity and a pining for what is not, so characteristic of Europe where growth has shunted and people have to deal with a lost glory, but still maintain that everything is alright. But when you start feeling edgy, the author tells you that all is not lost and there is still hope. And then again the story moves to America where many Asians have seeked asylum, in a hope to run away from a life of ruins and darkness. But again as most immigrants, they refuse to let go their past. They live in their past their whole life, but what is more sad is that they hold back their children too from emerging from this distant past which they have only heard about from their parents.
The book has tried and tested formulas but with a refreshing tone. The folklore which is narrated at the beginning of the book sets a mythic tone, but the author drags us back to the harsh realities of life by narrating the agony of Abdullah who is torn apart from his sister when she was sold to a rich couple in Kabul. Finally, the book takes a close look at how the choices made by parents affect their children and leave a mark/scar in their lives.
Read it, if you are ready to go through those emotional conflicts and agony of the characters for a few days.
