And The Mountains Echoed, a review by Joanna

Abdullah is only ten when his father, a poor labourer, makes a terrible choice to try and save his family. This act will change all their lives, and those of Nabi, his step-uncle, and Nabi’s wealthy employers. Over the next six decades, and across the world, others will also face hardship and loss, and make their own difficult choices, until, through fate or chance, the circle is closed.

My problem here was that just as I became invested in particular characters’ arcs, the story would shift to someone else who’s only been mentioned briefly, then I’d start getting interested in them, and oh look we’re off to follow someone else. The characters do all connect loosely, but there are far too many of them. The bunny-hopping through time was confusing and annoying, as was the shifting from past to present and third to first person narration. I did like the narration and the insight into the culture and recent history of a country I know very little about. My favourite character was Markos, a Greek plastic surgeon who gave up a successful career in Athens to help children in Afghanistan who have been wounded or disfigured in the terrible war. Hosseini is a qualified physician and it shows – many of his characters have diseases, accidents or conditions which are then turning points in their lives, but he doesn’t dwell on the medical aspects. The book is not as depressing as it sounds, and the writing is great so I do intend to get to his other books at some point.