After “Kite runner” and “A thousand splendid suns” Khalid Hosseini’s" third novel “And the mountains echoed” was released last month. I am a fan of the way he brings out emotions in his books, story is just a part of what I like.

 The first book highlights the relationship of father and son, the second mother and daughter, the third  brother and sister. All three beautifully woven in their own ways.

He effortlessly uses Afghanistan’s political and social condition as the backdrop for all his stories. This gives it a more realistic feel. Though a number of people argue his usage of Afghanistan’s plight for his own profit, I do not see reason to support them. It does not in anyway harm the existence of any person, and on a brighter side it does show the life on the other side of war-fence as well. Giving hope, courage and an understanding how human we are and life would go on even with “a thousand tragedies per square mile”.

Unlike the previous novels, the narration style adapted by Mr hosseini in this novel is totally different. Instead of being told from a narrators point of view, the book is more like journals of all the characters compiled to make this book. This style of narration with respect to the story have their own negatives. Like one part of it was totally unrelated, atleast according to me.

The few reasons why I did not like this book compared to the rest would be cause: the story never focuses on the main point: the brother and sister. Its more like the complete story between them being split and till they meet. In the mean time the focus is shifted more towards Afghanistan and revolves around smaller characters. You can say they constitute short stories.

Mr Hosseini leaves a number of open ends through the book, these are good as they keep you more interested, but with too many open ends it gets a bit boring. There has been a strong effort in trying to make the book more realistic, which is attained in every page. The story also has a tragic end, unlike his previous books.

On the whole, if we forget the first two books and read this, it surely is a griping read, beautifully woven on paper.