Hardback: 416 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing 2013
Source: Tywyn Public Library, Wales.
First Sentences: So, then. You want a story and I will tell you one. But just the one, Don't either of you ask me for more.
Favourite Quote: “They say, Find a purpose in your life and live it. But, sometimes, it is only after you have lived that you recognize your life had a purpose, and likely one you never had in mind.”
Review Quote: A story of love, separation, friendship, compassion, exile, memory and the troubled history of Afghanistan, spanning three continents and 60 years... Hosseini is a master storyteller and his characters brim with life... This novel will not disappoint his many admirers (Paul Dunn The Times)
My Opinion: An outstanding storyteller he has written another very moving and emotional tale.
It has been a long six year wait for a third novel from Khaled Hosseini best selling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. As a great fan of his first two novels I have been looking forward to his next novel for a long time, I can honestly say that And The Mountains Echoed was well worth the wait. An outstanding storyteller he has written another very moving and emotional tale, this time about how the choices we make in life can reverberate through time shaping our futures in surprising ways. The story does not just cross generations but also continents Kabul, Paris, San Franciso and a Greek Island.
Spanning sixty years with a vast cast of characters, the story hinges entirely on Abdullah and his sister Pari and how a heart breaking event in their childhood, will stay with them and mould their lives for years to come. The scenarios and characters are very realistic as the novel transports us from rural Afghanistan to its busy cities and beyond to the wider world as it slips backward and forward in time. Always linking in subtle ways to the story that a loving father was relating to his children at the opening of the novel.
A story and characters that will stay with you long after you finish the last page, a must read for all fans. If you are not yet one, it is time you read a novel from an author that really understands about life in Afghanistan. Highly recommended.
Author Khaled Hosseini talks about 'And The Mountains Echoed'
The Kite Runner - My Bookcrossing Review If you visit the link scroll down the page for my review.
A Thousand Splendid Suns - My Bookcrossing Review
Author Profile
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 4th 1965. In 1970 Hosseini and his family moved to Iran where his father worked for the Embassy of Afghanistan in Tehran. In 1973 the family returned to Kabul,
In 1976, when Hosseini was 11 years old, the family moved for his father's work again to Paris. They were unable to return to Afghanistan because of the Saur Revolution in which the PDPA communist party seized power through a bloody coup in April 1978. Instead, a year after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, in 1980 they sought political asylum in the United States and made their residence in San Jose, California.
Hosseini graduated from Independence High School in San Jose in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 1988. The following year, he entered the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, where he earned his M.D. in 1993. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in 1996. He practised medicine for over ten years, until a year and a half after the release of The Kite Runner. He now lives in Northern California, USA with his wife, Roya and children Harris and Farah.
Khaled Hosseini is now one of the most widely read and beloved novelists in the world, with over thirty eight million copies of his books sold in more than seventy countries. The Kite Runner was a major film and was a Book of the Decade, chosen by The Times, Daily Telegraph and Guardian. A Thousand Splendid Suns was the Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year in 2008. Hosseini is also a Goodwill Envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Refugee Agency and the founder of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation which provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.
The biographical information and photo used in this post are with thanks to the following websites, where you can also find more information about the author and his writing.
Goodreads Author Profile Amazon Author Profile Khaled Hosseini - Facebook Page
Official Author Website Khaled Hosseini - Wikipedia YouTube
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