...and the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

Six of us met at the Fox and Badger to discuss 'And the Mountains Echoed' by Khaled Hosseini - the first meeting since our loss of Ras. Once we'd forgiven the author for starting a book title with the word 'and', there was a generally positive reception for the book - though for Mark Th the positive experience at the time of reading was not sustained after the event (described as a bit like a Chinese meal) and Richard never achieved positivity. For others (in particular Rob and Chris B) it was a much more rewarding experience - with the rich tapestry of stories and memorable narrative equating more to a good meal at Tilley's (several different interesting things to sample, which together added up to a very fulfilling encounter).

This latter analogy came from the agreed perspective that this book is in many ways a collection of short stories, each of which is self-contained in its own right whilst contributing part of the overall picture. Whilst the general view was that this structure worked well, for some the sub-locations worked to different levels.  For Mark T and Richard the sojourn into Greece was the weakest whilst for Chris B, it was America. There was a risk that the autonomy of the different sub-plots made it confusing and difficult to follow, and Mark T certainly lost the will to understand those connections whilst for Rob it merely created a desire to start reading it again to understand and enjoy the complexities and cleverness of it all. It should be noted that Ras, in relaying his comments on the book a few days before his death, said he had found it too confusing and thus stopped reading it).  Nonetheless, the prevailing view was one of admiration for Hosseini's writing abilities and style, describing it as conveying strong emotions in non-melodramatic ways (Mark Th.), enjoying the use of traditional story-telling as an element (Chris B), and painting vivid pictures whilst using simple, clear language (Rob). The main exception to this view was Richard, who in complete contract to Mark Th described the language as melodramatic and even facile. Whilst not being so negative, Steve said he was irritated by information only being partly declared and then felt manipulated by it being released at a time designed to create maximum impact - though others suggested this could be seen as effective and good writing!

In terms of the underpinning commentary about life, Afghan life, family relationships and so on, Chris enjoyed the way in which Hosseini reminded readers of social issues and prompted them to think on their own terms rather than the book exploring them in great detail. Richard on the other hand, felt that he wore his Afghan heritage too strongly and was living out his feelings about his country through his books (surely not something that could ever be said about any British or American author!) What was indisputable was that the book's content generated a great deal of discussion - including spin offs. We found ourselves having detailed discussions about the implications of the current political and military crises in the middle east and north Africa, considering whether the western aspiration of imposing its version of 'democracy' on all societies is a fundamental mistake and how long it takes to move from one type of political or power structure in a society to another (ref. India vs Iraq).