And the Mountains Echoed

It was the last week of June and I had been reading for the last couple of days when suddenly I snapped my book close, yelled, “I won’t read you”, threw it on the bed, grabbed my phone, put on my shoes, announced than I’m going for a walk and left swiftly.

It was drizzling, and I was fuming…I walked quietly for a while and then called my friend Anshula, coz I thought she was the only person who could understand exactly what I was saying.

“I hate Khaled Hosseini! What does he think of himself? He doesn’t know how to write, he is playing with people’s emotions! Its not funny…!!” I yelled that in a breath.

Anshula calmly asked me, “Which book Aditi?”

“And The Mountains Echoed…. Pranav gifted me”

“Oh that…is my favourite book! I cried so much in the end..”

“I don’t care!” I snapped “I hate him, he is torturing me. He starts telling a story, brings me to the suspense and then changes the topic! What does he thinks of himself he is?! Huh?”

“Khaled Housseini obviously”

“Anshulaaaa!”

“Hahahaha…take a break”

This was my very first Khaled Houssini book. This book reminds me of the movie, “Children of Heaven” which is again a heart winning story of an elder brother and his little sister.

This book is about two inseperable siblings, Abdullah 10 and his toddler sister Pari 3 (who calls him Abollah). Unconditional love which remains throughout their lifetime and beyond, unconditional love which remains in oblivion and consciousness. Yet, “Sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand…”

His style of writing is beautiful and intriguing, nothing like anything I have read before, however it’s narration is complex. After talking to Anshula, I came to the conclusion that it was my circumstances that were driving me crazy, not the Author!

It’s not a long cohesive story, but a potpourri of shorter stories filled with smaller instances, connected to each other in a very different way.

The Author didn’t sweep me off my feet but it was like I fell in love, but I didn’t realize that I did coz it was so gradual and absorbing. When I finished reading this book, I was in a car with Pappa, so I gulped and pushed back my tears. And I think this is one of the best stories have and I will ever read. You’d definitely want to give him a warm hug after reading this story.

Thank you Pranav and Anshula for helping me read this book.