Scan barcode
A review by book_concierge
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
4.0
Audiobook performed by Shohreh Aghdashloo, Khaled Hosseini and Navid Negahban.
From book jacket: It begins with the unparalleled bond between two motherless siblings in an Afghan village. To three-year-old Pari, big brother Abdullah is more mother than brother. To ten-year-old Abdullah, little Pari is his everything What happens to them – and the large and small ways in which it echoes through the lives of so many other people – is proof of the moral complexity of life.
My reactions
Hosseini is a great storyteller. This is his most ambitious novel, covering several generations over six decades and across continents from Afghanistan to Paris to San Francisco to Greece.
There are many heart-wrenching scenes that echo what happens to Pari and Abdullah: Parwana and her twin Masooma; Nabi and Nila; Mr Wahdati and Nabi; Nila and Pari; Markos and Thalia. And however far apart – in terms of time, or distance, or relationship – these stories are, they are all connected.
Having multiple narrators and multiple time lines is a difficult style to pull off successfully. Hosseini does it masterfully in this novel. However, it did take me a while to get the rhythm of the story arc because of the changes in narrator, focus, time frame and location. The audio actually helps in this regard because of the three distinct performers. And once I was accustomed to the way Hosseini shifted focus, but still stayed centered on that central theme and story arc, my appreciation for the way he wove the stories together grew.
Khaled Hosseini, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Navid Negahban are all skilled narrators, with good pacing.
From book jacket: It begins with the unparalleled bond between two motherless siblings in an Afghan village. To three-year-old Pari, big brother Abdullah is more mother than brother. To ten-year-old Abdullah, little Pari is his everything What happens to them – and the large and small ways in which it echoes through the lives of so many other people – is proof of the moral complexity of life.
My reactions
Hosseini is a great storyteller. This is his most ambitious novel, covering several generations over six decades and across continents from Afghanistan to Paris to San Francisco to Greece.
There are many heart-wrenching scenes that echo what happens to Pari and Abdullah: Parwana and her twin Masooma; Nabi and Nila; Mr Wahdati and Nabi; Nila and Pari; Markos and Thalia. And however far apart – in terms of time, or distance, or relationship – these stories are, they are all connected.
Having multiple narrators and multiple time lines is a difficult style to pull off successfully. Hosseini does it masterfully in this novel. However, it did take me a while to get the rhythm of the story arc because of the changes in narrator, focus, time frame and location. The audio actually helps in this regard because of the three distinct performers. And once I was accustomed to the way Hosseini shifted focus, but still stayed centered on that central theme and story arc, my appreciation for the way he wove the stories together grew.
Khaled Hosseini, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Navid Negahban are all skilled narrators, with good pacing.