And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

Everyone in the family knows I did not like Mr. Hosseini's first book The Kite Runner.  That book was well written but I disliked the main character so much that the good writing did not matter. It was rather satisfying when that character returned to Afghanistan and got severely beaten.  He had it coming.  So I stayed away from the author's most recent book, even though Jackie thought I would like it.  Like most of her recommendations, she was right.

 The story starts in the middle of the 20th century in a small village in Afghanistan and spans back decades and forward to current time.  The opening chapter sets the stage beautifully for what comes next, which is a richer and more polished story than his first.  As the two children at the center of the story travel different paths, they open up to other well developed and interesting characters who ring true and make for a satisfying story.I particularly liked that there were opportunities for the author to revert to heart-warming outcomes that would have been too much and would have cheapened the story and yet he avoided those openings and had more true-to-life outcomes.  That said, the outcomes work and I gladly would have stayed with a longer book to see what happens next.  There are any number of scenes I could say more about but it would ruin the pleasure of discovery.  Becky and Amanda both would like this.  Jackie already does.