Sad stories make good books? If you think so you might love Khaled Hosseini's novels, they are all sad. Afghanistan recent history is another common denominator in all his three books to date.
Hosseini published his first book, "The Kite Runner", in 2003. Later, in 2007, a movie inspired in the book became very popular and it was then that I learned about the book. I did not see the movie and I did not read the book. I had the notion that the story was about children, and that it was not exactly fun. My own kids were little at the time and I did not feel like it was the right moment for this book.
A few years later, while searching for a new read in a bookstore (that was before I got my kindle), I came across "A Thousand Splendid Suns" (first published in 2008). I bought it and then I devoured it in just a few days. I loved the story and how it was told.
After such pleasant experience, when I saw Hosseini's new book "And The Mountains Echoed" (first published in 2013), I also read it and enjoyed it.
And then, a couple of weeks ago, I decided the time for "The Kite Runner" had come. Tears have been shed, as I was fearing they would. Having read the other two novels though, I knew that despite the very sad and terrible events described in the book, I would still find in it a strong set of characters that would speak of courage, conscience, compassion and hope.
All novels from Hosseini have some common themes: Afghanistan tragic history in the last 40 years, a certain yearn for how Afghanistan was prior to the Russian invasion in the seventies, Muslim traditions and cultural aspects, the loss of youth only too early, the Taliban.
Khaled Hosseini is himself an Afghan, although he moved away from his home country when he was still very young. The stories he writes are all hard but, at the same time, they are warm and so very human that you just keep on wanting some more.
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