And the Mountains Echoed

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You took from me my youngest son,” Baba Ayub replied. “He was in the world the dearest thing to me.” The wealthy head of the Wahdati’s household, Mr. Suleiman Wahdati is a mysterious character throughout most of Chapter Four of And the Mountains Echoed. After his wife, Nila Wahdati, and adopted daughter, Pari… Abdullah and his sister Pari go to sleep listening to this story and knowing that the next day they will have to say goodbye as well. Their father found a job in Kabul and decided to take the girl with him while leaving his son to take care of Parwana, their step mother, and Iqbal, their half-brother. However, so was the bond between the two siblings that Abdullah insisted on tagging along on the journey through the desert, towards the capital city. Once they arrived in Kabul, they are introduced to the Wahdati family, the wealthy employers of their step uncle, Nabi. Naila Wahdati takes great interest in them and in the end it is revealed that Pari was to be adopted by her and her husband thus separating her from her brother. Nabi is the older brother of Parwana and Masooma. Despite being "a character who slips beneath the notice of many of the novel's noisier characters", [17] he organizes the event that serves as the primary plot of the story: the adoption of Pari. After being hired as a chauffeur for the Wahdatis, he becomes infatuated with the childless Nila and arranges for Pari to be sold to her in hopes that she will become his lover. [17] After Nila's husband suffers a stroke and Nila leaves for Paris, he realizes that he had been foolish to think so and becomes the primary caregiver for his bedridden employer. He later develops a deep bond with Mr. Wahdati, and they become platonic lifelong partners. [17]

The fourth chapter consists of a letter, written by Nabi, the brother of Masooma and Parwana. Nabi, an old man as the chapter begins, describes his career working for the Wahdati family. As a young man, Nabi works as a cook and chauffeur for Mr. Suleiman Wahdati, a quiet, shy man. Shortly after he begins his job, Mr. Wahdati marries Mrs. Nila Wahdati, a beautiful, mysterious woman with whom Nabi is fascinated. As the years go on, Nabi becomes increasingly close with Nila, and is ultimately the one to suggest that Nila and Suleiman adopt Pari as their own child. While Saboor agrees, he comes to hate Nabi for his role in breaking up Saboor’s family. The brother of Parwana and Masooma, Uncle Nabi is the main character in Chapter Four of And the Mountains Echoed. Because he works for the Wahdatis, he is instrumental in arranging the “sale” of… Hosseini's] beautifully written, masterfully crafted new book, And the Mountains Echoed, spans nearly 60 years of Afghan history as it investigates the consequences of a desperate act that scars two young lives and resonates through many others. . . . And the Mountains Echoed is painfully sad but also radiant with love. Los Angles Times

The arrogant, narcissistic mother of Thalia, Madaline figures in Chapter Eight of And the Mountains Echoed. While she’s lifelong friends with Odelia, Odelia begins to resent her constant talk about husbands and… All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. You say you felt a presence, but I only sensed an absence. A vague pain without a source. I was like a patient who cannot tell the doctor where it hurts, only that it does.” The novel begins with a tale of extraordinary sacrifice that has ramifications through generations of families. What do you think of Saboor's decision to let the adoption take place? How are Nila and Nabi implicated in Saboor's decision? What do you think of their motives? Who do you think is the most pure or best intended of the three adults? Ultimately, do you think Pari would have had a happier life if she had stayed with her birth family?

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, / there is a field. I'll meet you there." The author chose this thirteenth-century Rumi poem as the epigraph for the book. Discuss the novel in light of this poem. What do you think he is saying about rightdoing and wrongdoing in the lives of his characters, or in the world? The mother of Markos Varvaris, Odelia Varvaris is a strong, tough, and often seemingly emotionless woman. Although she takes good care of Markos, and later of Thalia, Odelia has a difficult time expressing… Still, Baba Ayub counted himself among the fortunate because he had a family that he cherished above all things. He loved his wife and never raised his voice to her, much less his hand. He valued her counsel and found genuine pleasure in her companionship. As for children, he was blessed with as many as a hand has fingers, three sons and two daughters, each of whom he loved dearly. His daughters were dutiful and kind and of good character and repute. To his sons he had taught already the value of honesty, courage, friendship, and hard work without complaint. They obeyed him, as good sons must, and helped their father with his crops. That spring, the skies at last broke open over Maidan Sabz. What came down was not the soft drizzle of years past but a great, great rainfall. Fat rain fell from the sky, and the village rose thirstily to meet it. All day, water drummed upon the roofs of Maidan Sabz and drowned all other sound from the world. Heavy, swollen raindrops rolled from the tips of leaves. The wells filled and the river rose. The hills to the east turned green. Wildflowers bloomed, and for the first time in many years children played on grass and cows grazed. Everyone rejoiced.

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Subsequent chapters expound on how the arrangement came to be: the children's stepmother, Parwana, grew up as the less-favored child to her beautiful twin sister Masooma. One day, in a flash of jealousy because Masooma and Saboor were to be wed, she pushed Masooma out of a tree resulting in paraplegia. Parwana subsequently spent several years caring for her sister until the latter asked her to help her commit suicide and to then marry Saboor. At Masooma's request Parwana takes Masooma out to the middle of nowhere and leaves her there. Their older brother, Nabi, left to work for Mr. Wahdati, a wealthy man in Kabul, and became infatuated with his wife, Nila. After Nila expressed dismay about her inability to have children, Nabi arranged for Pari to be sold to the couple, because Parwana has given birth to a son and Saboor cannot support 3 children. After Pari is sold in Kabul, Nabi is no longer welcome in the village. i want to give up my bearings, slip out of who i am, shed everything, the way a snake discards old skin.” a b Kamal, Soniah (June 5, 2013). "Review: Khaled Hosseini finds light amid darkness in masterful "And the Mountains Echoed" ". Atlanta Arts. Archived from the original on April 20, 2016 . Retrieved August 25, 2013. a b c Pera, Mariam (July 3, 2013). "Khaled Hosseini Discusses Unforeseen Consequences". American Libraries Magazine . Retrieved November 2, 2013. Akbar, Arifa (May 31, 2013). "And the Mountains Echoed, By Khaled Hosseini; A Fort of Nine Towers, By Qais Akbar Omar". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2013-06-07 . Retrieved August 25, 2013.

Al-Shawaf, Rayyan (May 17, 2013). "Khaled Hosseini examines generations connected by a Kabul villa in 'And the Mountains Echoed' ". Miami Herald . Retrieved November 2, 2013.

The second wife of Saboor, the sister of Masooma, and the mother of Iqbal, Parwana is the main character of the third chapter of And the Mountains Echoed. As a young woman…