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Another hot and humid day

The Four Seasons, home of the original power lunch, closes

<p>Khaled Hosseini may be one of the greatest writers of our generations. The author of &#8220;The Kite Runner&#8221; and &#8220;A Thousand Splendid Suns&#8221; has done it again with his most recent book, &#8220;And the Mountains Echoed.&#8221; I&#8217;m a little behind on my &#8220;new&#8221; releases; this book was released in 2013.</p><p>Like his previous titles, &#8220;And the Mountains Echoed&#8221; is lovely and heartbreaking in so many ways, which should not be a surprise to anyone familiar with Hosseini&#8217;s previous works.</p><p>The story begins with a father telling his two young children a simple fairy tale. Hidden beneath the tale is a devastating choice. The father is poverty stricken and has a new, pregnant wife to support. He decides to sell his three year old daughter, Pari, to a wealthy couple unable to have their own children. Because of her young age, Pari is only vaguely aware of what is happening but her 7-year-old brother, Abdullah, is devastated by her loss.</p><p>The father&#8217;s decision echoes throughout the entire novel. Each chapter follows a different character in a series of interlocking stories that span from the 1930s through 2010. The stories take place in Afghanistan, Europe and America. Each chapter reveals what happened to Pari and Abdullah during their lives.</p><p>It isn&#8217;t always obvious how the stories are connected, but each chapter explains more details about the siblings&#8217; lives at some point in time. We learn what happened to the town where they were born and how their father ended up with his second wife.</p><p>One chapter follows the siblings&#8217; step-uncle, Nabi, who worked for the wealthy couple who adopted Pari and helped to broker the adoption. At the end of his life, he writes a letter explaining his actions and their consequences.</p><p>Another chapter deals with the life Pari has made for herself in Paris as an adult. One seemingly disconnected chapter focuses on a plastic surgeon in Greece who has a connection to Pari&#8217;s childhood house in Kabul.</p><p>Despite juggling a myriad of different characters, Hosseini does an excellent job of giving each character a unique voice. Most chapters are told in third person, but he switches to first person in the last two chapters, giving the book a new perspective.</p><p>Hosseini juggles the complicated plot deftly, weaving the story together perfectly to a bittersweet but satisfying ending. It&#8217;s an ambitious novel, but one that grips the audience emotionally throughout pages. Similarly to his previous books, Hosseini continues to explore family relationships, particularly between parents and children, as well as how the actions of the past have far reaching consequences.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">&#8216;And the Mountains Echoed&#8217; is the latest of author Khaled Housseini works. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_thumbnail_Mountains.jpg</photo1><caption1>&#8216;And the Mountains Echoed&#8217; is the latest of author Khaled Housseini works. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dorothy Sasso</p><p>On the Books</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>&#8216;And the Mountains Echoed&#8217;</p><p>Author: Khaled Housseini</p><p>Page Number: 448</p><p>Publisher: Riverhead Books</p><p>Rating: &#9830;&#9830;&#9830;&#9830;&#9830; </p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Dorothy Sasso is a former Soap Opera Digest writer and a private school teacher. She is busy reading books and raising her two daughters.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

On the Books: Khaled Housseini’s latest novel explores love, loss and tragedy