And the Mountains Echoed

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The book raises many deep questions about the wavering line between right and wrong, and whether it is possible to be purely "good"—or purely "bad." What do you think after reading the novel: Are good intentions enough to create good deeds? Can positive actions come from selfish motivations? Can bad come from positive intent? How do you think this novel would define a good person? How would you define one?

Baba Ayub jumped up and down, waving his arms and pounding on the glass, until the div pulled the curtains shut once more.

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? Pari is devastated by her mother’s suicide, and feels guilty for not spending more time with her. Nevertheless, she proceeds with her studies of mathematics, and eventually earns a Ph.D. As a young woman, she marries a man named Eric Lacombe, with whom she has three children. As she grows older, Pari comes to feel a stronger connection with Nila than she ever did when Nila was alive: she recognizes how difficult it can be to be a parent. Years later, when Pari is an elderly woman and barely able to walk, she receives a call from Marko Varvaris, who tells her that she has a brother named Abdullah. As she processes this news, she feels a strange sense of connection with her sibling—a sense that she’s forgotten about for decades. A story is like a moving train," as Hosseini has one of his many tale-telling characters remark, "no matter where you hop onboard, you are bound to reach your destination sooner or later." True enough, but Hosseini isn't restricted to any single route, or mode of transport. He is a master of that deeper narrative principle: get your audience where they want to go, but not in the way they expect. An unnamed character, and one of the antagonists of Chapter Seven of And the Mountains Echoed, The Commander is a powerful, intimidating leader, about whom we know very little, since he’s seen entirely from…

And with that, the div exited the chamber, leaving Baba Ayub with yet another painful choice to make. And the Mountains Echoed study guide contains a biography of Khaled Hosseini, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Hosseini’s] most assured and emotionally gripping story yet . . . Hosseini’s narrative gifts have deepened over the years. . . . [And the Mountains Echoed] grapples with many of the same themes that crisscross his early novels: the relationship between parents and children, and the ways the past can haunt the present. And it shares a similar penchant for mapping terrain midway between the boldly colored world of fable and the more shadowy, shaded world of realism… [W]e finish this novel with an intimate understanding of who his characters are and how they’ve defined themselves over the years through the choices they have made between duty and freedom, familial responsibilities and independence, loyalty to home and exile abroad… a deeply affecting choral work… a testament both to his intimate knowledge of their inner lives, and to his power as an old-fashioned storyteller.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times The son of Iqbal ( Abdullah’s half-brother), Gholam is a clever, savvy teenager who befriends Adel during Chapter Seven of the novel. Gholam knows from his father that The Commander, Adel’s father, is… 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…

She is furious with herself for her own stupidity. Opening herself up like this, voluntarily, to a lifetime of worry and anguish. It was madness. Sheer lunacy. A spectacularly foolish and baseless faith, against enormous odds, that a world you do not control will not take from you the one thing you cannot bear to lose. Faith that the world will not destroy you.” But it is important to know this, to know your roots. To know where you started as a person. If not, your own life seems unreal to you. Like a puzzle. Vous comprenez? Like you have missed the beginning of a story and now you are in the middle of it, trying to understand.”

So there it is, boy. That’s the end of it. I have nothing more to say. And now it really is late and I am tired, and your sister and I have to wake at dawn. So blow out your candle. Lay your head down and close your eyes. Sleep well, boy. We’ll say our good-byes in the morning.

They tell me I must wade into waters, where I will soon drown. Before I march in, I leave this on the shore for you. I pray you find it, sister, so you will know what was in my heart as I went under.” Your son does not remember you, the div continued. This is his life now, and you saw for yourself his happiness. He is provided here with the finest food and clothes, with friendship and affection. He receives tutoring in the arts and languages and in the sciences, and in the ways of wisdom and charity. He wants for nothing. Someday, when he is a man, he may choose to leave, and he shall be free to do so. I suspect he will touch many lives with his kindness and bring happiness to those trapped in sorrow. Chapter Six concerns Pari’s relationship with Nila Wahdati, the woman she’s come to think of as her mother. At the chapter begins, Nila—now a middle-aged woman—has a poor relationship with her adopted daughter. She’s been a neglectful parent, despite building up a successful career as a poet. When Pari was a young teenager, Nila began seeing a man named Julien, for whom Pari had feelings, too. Julien and Nila’s relationship lasted only a few months. Several years later, while Pari was studying mathematics at the Sorbonne, she encountered Julien once again, and they began an affair of their own. When Pari worked up the courage to tell Nila about the affair, Nila laughed and told Pari that they were no longer mother and daughter. The overlapping relationships of the different characters are complex and reflective of real life. Discuss the connections between the different characters, how they are made, grow, and are sustained. Consider all the ways in which an event in one of the families in the book can resonate in the lives of so many other characters. Can you name some examples?