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sawsan 's review for:
And the Mountains Echoed
by Khaled Hosseini
4.5 stars
ahh Khaled Hosseini, how he manages to make such heart wrenching stories?
but the format was great and he executed it perfectly. how the stories intertwined and explored different areas and angles of the same character and same setting. I loved the story of the war criminal and his son, how realistic -as all Hosseini's writing is- because talking seriously, the boy of course will end up discovering that his father is no hero but what can he or will he do about it? it is very rare to find someone who will decide to go out of his father's path and make a cleaner one for himself, and maybe the boy will but a very high chance he won't. Also seeing how unreliable the first narration of the boy compared to how the people see his father which is shown when Peri was exploring and took pics of the house and the people told her he was a dangerous war criminal, this was one of my favorite moments in the book. All stories were emotional and has that sad ending Hosseini specialize in. I loved the story of Thalia and Markos, I loved her relationship with his mother, how they formed this kind of understanding he couldn't do with his mother, and how she found a family better than her own, and how her mother's husband cared for her until the very end. The story of Parwana and Masooma has to the most wrecking, I mean she grew to envy her sister, and she didn't mean to let her fall, could she have saved her from her fate had she moved earlier? is it selfish that she left her at the end in the desert or merciful for both of them? of course there is a lot of selfishness in leaving her but still was it a relieve for Masooma? do I hate Parwana for taking it all away from Masooma? do I pity her or do I hate her because I feel she caused it all to her sister? all questions I don't have answer for I have anger and disgust at Parwana but I also have Pity, and at the end after the death of her baby and her son and the very hard life she led in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it all didn't turn out as amazing as it would if she married the man the man she loved. Idris, after he promised the little girl, after convincing us he was different, he didn't turn out to be any different, and why will he? I should have known from the beginning because again Hosseini doesn't sugar coat the truth, he says it plainly and clear. I hated Idris at the start for the way he treated his children, I mean would it have been better for him if they suffered? what is he blaming them for? for being ok? isn't that what you wanted to achieve for them when you worked hard? wasn't he also saved when his parents took him away from the war? and then when he talks to his wife about it and she simply tells him " do both" it is as simple as that, then he decided he was glad the hospital said no from one pathetic try and he just moved one neglecting his promises. I feel like the msg she left him at the book is somehow even a bigger punishment than him not being in the book, it is like she remembers it but in a more painful way. Abdallah and Peri, their love for each other was the heart and soul of the book, the start was sad and amazing, the ending bittersweet but still amazing. Th problem that I had with it that Peri's (the daughter) perspective was the weakest among the 8 stories, very lacking, he loved his daughter greatly and I know she loved him back, I don't blame her for deciding to make her father live in a old people caring home, I can see how overwhelming it was all for her to take care of him on her own, but I didn't like how she saw him as a prison where she got instituted and was too scared to leave, I guess my problem was that I never felt her love for him, only the guilt and duty but not love, if I could just see it, if I could feel more of Peri's feelings them maybe the ending would have been perfect.
Salma 2023: i get it why peri felt like that now.
ahh Khaled Hosseini, how he manages to make such heart wrenching stories?
but the format was great and he executed it perfectly. how the stories intertwined and explored different areas and angles of the same character and same setting. I loved the story of the war criminal and his son, how realistic -as all Hosseini's writing is- because talking seriously, the boy of course will end up discovering that his father is no hero but what can he or will he do about it? it is very rare to find someone who will decide to go out of his father's path and make a cleaner one for himself, and maybe the boy will but a very high chance he won't. Also seeing how unreliable the first narration of the boy compared to how the people see his father which is shown when Peri was exploring and took pics of the house and the people told her he was a dangerous war criminal, this was one of my favorite moments in the book. All stories were emotional and has that sad ending Hosseini specialize in. I loved the story of Thalia and Markos, I loved her relationship with his mother, how they formed this kind of understanding he couldn't do with his mother, and how she found a family better than her own, and how her mother's husband cared for her until the very end. The story of Parwana and Masooma has to the most wrecking, I mean she grew to envy her sister, and she didn't mean to let her fall, could she have saved her from her fate had she moved earlier? is it selfish that she left her at the end in the desert or merciful for both of them? of course there is a lot of selfishness in leaving her but still was it a relieve for Masooma? do I hate Parwana for taking it all away from Masooma? do I pity her or do I hate her because I feel she caused it all to her sister? all questions I don't have answer for I have anger and disgust at Parwana but I also have Pity, and at the end after the death of her baby and her son and the very hard life she led in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it all didn't turn out as amazing as it would if she married the man the man she loved. Idris, after he promised the little girl, after convincing us he was different, he didn't turn out to be any different, and why will he? I should have known from the beginning because again Hosseini doesn't sugar coat the truth, he says it plainly and clear. I hated Idris at the start for the way he treated his children, I mean would it have been better for him if they suffered? what is he blaming them for? for being ok? isn't that what you wanted to achieve for them when you worked hard? wasn't he also saved when his parents took him away from the war? and then when he talks to his wife about it and she simply tells him " do both" it is as simple as that, then he decided he was glad the hospital said no from one pathetic try and he just moved one neglecting his promises. I feel like the msg she left him at the book is somehow even a bigger punishment than him not being in the book, it is like she remembers it but in a more painful way. Abdallah and Peri, their love for each other was the heart and soul of the book, the start was sad and amazing, the ending bittersweet but still amazing. Th problem that I had with it that Peri's (the daughter) perspective was the weakest among the 8 stories, very lacking, he loved his daughter greatly and I know she loved him back, I don't blame her for deciding to make her father live in a old people caring home, I can see how overwhelming it was all for her to take care of him on her own, but I didn't like how she saw him as a prison where she got instituted and was too scared to leave, I guess my problem was that I never felt her love for him, only the guilt and duty but not love, if I could just see it, if I could feel more of Peri's feelings them maybe the ending would have been perfect.
Salma 2023: i get it why peri felt like that now.