And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

I loved both The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns so my hopes were high for Hosseini's latest book.

I wasn't disappointed.

And the Mountains Echoed is a story of loss and abandonment.
Loss of family, country, face, life, health, identity, home and memory are experienced by different characters at different times.

This loss informs relationships, choices and patterns of behaviour.

Each character is sympathetically drawn.

The language flows beautifully and elegantly, joining time periods, countries and characters lives seamlessly.

My only fault is that I was enjoying some of the individual stories so much, I didn't want them to stop. Towards the end, a few of these stories felt a little rushed and some of the poignancy of the ending was lost in the haste (another loss perhaps?)

Both The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns had a particularly strong, confronting, disturbing scene to contend with. I was waiting on tenterhooks for a similar moment in this book. It wasn't until the end that I realised what 'the moment' was for this book. Because I was waiting for something else, I initially missed seeing it for what it was.

And the Mountains Echoed is storytelling with heart.

 It is due for May release in Australia.