First Quarter SSR

     Khaled Hosseini's novel, And the Mountains Echoed is a 402 page realistic fiction novel that follows the story of a desperate Afghani family who sells their youngest daughter to a wealthy couple and takes course over fifty years and four generations. Interestingly, Hosseini chose to create the book through the eyes of multiple narrators as oppose to a first person or focused omniscient narrator. Each perspective gives a different take on the family's decisions and personal lives. Pari, who is the daughter of Saboor is taken to a Kabul unaware of her fathers intentions to the Wahdati's who are eagerly awaiting their new child since they are unable to conceive a child of their own. Saboor also believes it his in his daughter's best wishes she lives with a rich family since they belong to a poor and struggling family. It all seems beneficial except Abdullah, who is Pari's brother, have a very strong bond which is being completely uprooted and destroyed because of this event. Throughout this story, many marital issues transpire with lack of love and Pari's new parents withhold vital information about Pari's true identity and her real family. However, she eventually ends up marrying and seeks the truth of her true self.

     I thoroughly enjoyed this novel as I am familiar with Hosseini's writings and admire his concise yet descriptive writing style. He is able to describe things vividly without having long, fluffy drawn out sentences. Within this book are a lot of interesting folklore that is obviously not found within our culture and has insights of wisdom through stories or wise family members about morality and life. Personally, I am also a fan of realistic novels as I find them to be more appealing since they are plausible and aren't extremely farfetched. Especially since it covers real and prevalent issues in less developed countries. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that does have similar literature interests, or just enjoys literature as a whole since it is a beautifully crafted novel.