And the Mountains Echoed is essentially the story of Abdullah and his younger sister Pari, who share a very special and strong bond. They are separated when four-year-old Pari is sold to a wealthy and childless family. Spanning half a century, the story crosses generations and continents as Hosseini recounts the lives of several people involved in and affected by the siblings’ separation.

The book starts off strong. Hosseini’s writing is simply beautiful. I actually found myself re-reading a few sentences in the beginning as I liked the language so much. Sadly, as the story moves from the siblings to other characters, the language becomes somewhat plainer.

Some of those other characters’ lives are described in great detail, too much detail for my liking. Although they played some part in the main story, there was simply no need to outline their whole lives. I would have preferred to know more of Abdullah’s life after the separation for instance.

While I can see recurring themes in these chapters, I am really struggling to find the red thread that runs through the whole book. In fact, I found it to be missing at times. It almost felt as though the different stories were forcefully woven together.

The ending is rather sad and I was really touched by Pari and Abdullah’s reunion, especially the moment when they put together the verses from the nursery rhyme – each remembered only half of it. It is an emotional story that will touch your heart. It’s just such a pity that the chapters about those less important characters distracted from it.

I liked the beginning of the book and the end but sadly I just didn’t connect with the bulk of the middle part.