487 pages
French language
Published Oct. 28, 2013 by Belfond.
Roman familial. Roman psychologique (intime)
A Shadbagh, un minuscule village agricole, Abdullah, 10 ans, s'occupe de sa petite soeur Pari. Entre les deux enfants, le lien est indéfectible, ce qui leur permet d'oublier la mort de leur mère, les absences de leur père qui cherche désespérément du travail et ces jours où la faim les tenaille encore plus qu'à l'habitude. Un jour, leur père décide de partir pour Kaboul où l'oncle Nabi lui aurait trouvé un emploi et d'emmener Pari avec lui. Abdullah sent qu'il se trame quelque chose... [4e de couverture]
En Afghanistan, des années 1950 à nos jours, mais aussi à Paris dans les années 1970, en Californie dans les années 2000 et sur une île grecque aujourd'hui. A Shadbagh, un minuscule village agricole, Abdullah, 10 ans, s'occupe de sa petite soeur Pari. Entre les deux enfants, le lien est indéfectible, ce qui leur permet d'oublier la mort …
Roman familial. Roman psychologique (intime)
A Shadbagh, un minuscule village agricole, Abdullah, 10 ans, s'occupe de sa petite soeur Pari. Entre les deux enfants, le lien est indéfectible, ce qui leur permet d'oublier la mort de leur mère, les absences de leur père qui cherche désespérément du travail et ces jours où la faim les tenaille encore plus qu'à l'habitude. Un jour, leur père décide de partir pour Kaboul où l'oncle Nabi lui aurait trouvé un emploi et d'emmener Pari avec lui. Abdullah sent qu'il se trame quelque chose... [4e de couverture]
En Afghanistan, des années 1950 à nos jours, mais aussi à Paris dans les années 1970, en Californie dans les années 2000 et sur une île grecque aujourd'hui. A Shadbagh, un minuscule village agricole, Abdullah, 10 ans, s'occupe de sa petite soeur Pari. Entre les deux enfants, le lien est indéfectible, ce qui leur permet d'oublier la mort de leur mère, les absences de leur père qui cherche désespérément du travail et ces jours où la faim les tenaille encore plus qu'à l'habitude. Un jour, leur père décide de partir pour Kaboul où l'oncle Nabi lui aurait trouvé un emploi et d'emmener Pari avec lui. Abdullah sent qu'il se trame quelque chose. Et de fait, leur père, préférant "couper un doigt pour sauver la main", vend Pari à la riche famille pour laquelle travaille Nabi. Une séparation déchirante qui pèsera sur toute la vie d'Abdullah, même après son exil aux Etats-Unis. La petite Pari oublie et grandit à Paris où sa mère, Nila, trop libre pour la société afghane, s'est enfuie au milieu des années 50. Nabi est resté auprès de Suleiman, le mari de Nila, devenu handicapé suite à un AVC. Des années plus tard, bien après la chute des Talibans, Abdullah n'a pas oublié Pari qui, elle, n'a jamais pu combler une sensation de vide, comme s'il lui manquait quelque chose d'indispensable, dont elle ignorait tout?
En Afghanistan, des années 1950 à nos jours, mais aussi à Paris dans les années 1970, en Californie dans les années 2000 et sur une île grecque aujourd'hui. A Shadbagh, un minuscule village agricole, Abdullah, 10 ans, s'occupe de sa petite soeur Pari. Entre les deux enfants, le lien est indéfectible, ce qui leur permet d'oublier la mort de leur mère, les absences de leur père qui cherche désespérément du travail et ces jours où la faim les tenaille encore plus qu'à l'habitude. Un jour, leur père décide de partir pour Kaboul où l'oncle Nabi lui aurait trouvé un emploi et d'emmener Pari avec lui. Abdullah sent qu'il se trame quelque chose. Et de fait, leur père, préférant couper un doigt pour sauver la main, vend Pari à la riche famille pour laquelle travaille Nabi. Une séparation déchirante qui pèsera sur toute la vie d'Abdullah, même après son exil aux Etats-Unis. La petite Pari oublie et grandit à Paris où sa mère, Nila, trop libre pour la société afghane, s'est enfuie au milieu des années 50. Nabi est resté auprès de Suleiman, le mari de Nila, devenu handicapé suite à un AVC. Des années plus tard, bien après la chute des Talibans, Abdullah n'a pas oublié Pari qui, elle, n'a jamais pu combler une sensation de vide, comme s'il lui manquait quelque chose d'indispensable, dont elle ignorait tout?
The first half was extremely compelling, while the second half didn't keep up the pace and went into a little bit too much detail about some of the characters. Nevertheless, touching and worth reading -- but be prepared for a tear-jerker!
Abdullah and Pari are close, very close; Pari idolises her older brother and there is nothing he wouldn’t do to keep he safe. But at the age of three Pari is sold to a glamorous young woman who couldn’t have children in Kabul. Without any form of goodbyes Abdullah never forgets his younger sister, but she has forgotten all about her previous life.
Khaled Hosseini sets out to explore the different ways in which families nurture; he begins this novel with a fable about a mythical creature known as the div who comes to the village and takes young children to his fort in the mountains. One day a farmer was so heartbroken of the loss of a child that he climbs the mountain to kill the div. After a brief battle with the creature the div shows him the most beautiful place the farmers ever seen and the children …
Abdullah and Pari are close, very close; Pari idolises her older brother and there is nothing he wouldn’t do to keep he safe. But at the age of three Pari is sold to a glamorous young woman who couldn’t have children in Kabul. Without any form of goodbyes Abdullah never forgets his younger sister, but she has forgotten all about her previous life.
Khaled Hosseini sets out to explore the different ways in which families nurture; he begins this novel with a fable about a mythical creature known as the div who comes to the village and takes young children to his fort in the mountains. One day a farmer was so heartbroken of the loss of a child that he climbs the mountain to kill the div. After a brief battle with the creature the div shows him the most beautiful place the farmers ever seen and the children all happy. The div tells the farmer that he has come to test him and he has to choose what is best for his child.
I might lose some fans but I have to say it; people talk about Khaled Hosseini’s literary genius, with so much hype surrounding And the Mountains Echoed but I don’t see it. I will admit that I have not read The Kite Runner or A Thousand Splendid Suns so I’m only judging his literary merits by this alone and I might be wrong. Here is my thoughts based on only this book; he is a great storyteller but he is no writer of literary fiction, in fact I think he still has some work to do, before I would consider him a good writer and I don’t think I would even class this as literary fiction.
Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy reading this novel but I was expecting literary fiction and I was disappointed I didn’t get it. I was also reading the most wonderful novel at the same time, which actually covers similar themes and plot points. So I continually compared this novel with the other and when you are facing off against A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra, it really had no hope in winning. The story was nice and I found myself racing though the book but all the time I wanted to go back to A Constellation of Vital Phenomena.
Well well go and play till the light fades away
And then go home to bed
The little ones leaped and shouted and laugh’d
And all the hills ecchoed.
The title of the book comes from a William Blake poem called Nurse’s Song (I have no idea why Blake spells echoed with a double c but if you have any insights on that I would love to know) which feels fitting to the book. I think of Abdullah as the nurse who wants to protect but Pari is off having a good time (a far better life) and I’m not good at interpreting poetry but I think that’s where the analogy ends. There is the moral and ethical dilemma here about Pari, is she better off with the rich family or with her brother and family struggling.
As far as I can see this was a great story and I would read Khaled Hosseini again; I am curious to compare this to his other two books. I just think this is just great storytelling with a moral but there is nothing to make this stand out and think this is literature. In fact none of the characters or plot was so memorable, so when it came to talking about this book in book club I struggled to remember the plot and characters and I only finished it the day before.
At times I felt this book was a little staged and forced and I finished the book not learning anything about Afghanistan and the life of the people living there, so I felt disappointed. I know of offended people on the Khaled Hosseini bandwagon but sadly I just didn’t get into it. I liked the book but there is no lasting impression left on me and since I was reading a book that will easily be in my top five books of 2013 at the same time, I think that really gave me a negative opinion towards And the Mountains Echoed. This is the type of book you take to the beach or on holidays for a mindless but enjoyable story, there is nothing really else there.
This review originally appeared on my blog; literary-exploration.com/2013/08/05/book-review-and-the-mountains-echoed/
Though not quite the page-turner that its two predecessors were, Hosseini's much anticipated latest novel is an undeniably sweet and satisfying set of intertwining tales.
