And the Mountains Echoed

March 18, 2013
Hosseini’s third novel (after A Thousand Splendid Suns) follows a close-knit but oft-separated Afghan family through love, wars, and losses more painful than death. The story opens in 1952 in the village of Shadbagh, outside of Kabul, as a laborer, Kaboor, relates a haunting parable of triumph and loss to his son, Abdullah. The novel’s core, however, is the sale for adoption of the Kaboor’s three-year-old daughter, Pari, to the wealthy poet Nila Wahdati and her husband, Suleiman, by Pari’s step-uncle Nabi. The split is particularly difficult for Abdullah, who took care of his sister after their mother’s death. Once Suleiman has a stroke, Nila leaves him to Nabi’s care and takes Pari to live in Paris. Much later, during the U.S. occupation, the dying Nabi makes Markos, a Greek plastic surgeon now renting the Wahdati house, promise to find Pari and give her a letter containing the truth. The beautiful writing, full of universal truths of loss and identity, makes each section a jewel, even if the bigger picture, which eventually expands to include Pari’s life in France, sometimes feels disjointed. Still, Hosseini’s eye for detail and emotional geography makes this a haunting read. Agent: Robert Barnett, Williams & Connolly.

In 1952, a poor Afghan villager makes the heart-wrenching decision to sell his young daughter to a childless upper-class couple in Kabul, setting off ripples that will affect both families for almost 60 years. Author Hosseini and Iranian-born actors Navid Negahban and Shohreh Aghdashloo alternately narrate this novel, which switches among characters in its point of view. Aghdashloo reads the chapters written from a female perspective. All three performances are emotionally strong and expressive, although they lack some polish. However, the easy-to-understand accents, correct pronunciations, and good characterizations keep listeners fully grounded in this story of family and hidden truths. Because the chapters are not chronological, inattentive listeners may be momentarily confused, but the solid readings and beautifully crafted text quickly cue them to time and place. C.B.L. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine