All of us have had those moments where we are talking with someone we have just met and realize that we know someone in common or have lived in the same place. These “small world” experiences create a sense that even though the world is large we are connected to each other in ways that we do not understand.

In And the Mountains Echoed, Hosseini has written in a lyrical and touching way about the ” small world” experiences of Afghan immigrants who find that their lives are connected in many ways to each other. Intertwining several story lines and using shifting perspectives, times and places, the reader is able to see the webs of caring and pain, the ties that bind families and the destructive nature of war and economic hardship on those very relationships.

Hosseini  creates unforgettable characters like Nabi, the servant for the wealthy Wadhati family and his brother Saboor who is a farmer but must face the difficult choice of giving up one child so that they might all survive. Or Pari, whose mother takes her to France when she is quite young leaving her disconnected from her family in Afghanistan. And Markos, a Greek plastic surgeon who comes to Afghanistan to help the people, especially children who have been disfigured in the war, and ends up being the the one who reunites a local Afghan family who have been lost to each other more than thirty years. Each character is fully developed on their own, and yet it is their connections to each other that creates the tension within the story, keeping you turning the pages to see how they will connect in the end.

Hosseini is a powerful writer in his simplicity. The story unfolds simply and realistically; calmly narrated with the complete assurance that the story itself is powerful enough to carry its message without the need for artifice or flourishes.  The characters are flawed people who do things that seem heroic, but heroic in a way that seems possible and realistic rather than fantastic.  Each character and story line adds another strand to the web of connection; invisible lines of caring and hope that touch and heal, and help bind the characters to each other, and through them, I, as a reader, feel the deeper connections that bind all of us together.

This is a powerful book, and one of the best books I have read this year!

Brenda’s Rating: *****(5 Stars out of 5)

Recommend this book to: Keith, Marian, Lauren, Ken and Sharon.

Book Study Worthy: YES!

Read in ebook format.