review by showhost
I loved this authors previous books, the
Kite Runner & 1000 Splendid Suns, so when a friend offered me this book to
read I couldn't wait! What makes his books so engrossing is his knowledge of
Afghanistan and the story he weaves around it. The story begins strangely with
Saboor telling his children a story. Then it comes back to the present,
Afghanistan 1952. Saboor and his family (Abdullah his son, Pari his daughter
and their step-mother) who all live in Shadbagh. They struggle to find enough
food and to keep warm in the winter. Abdullah loves his sister Pari - her name
means beautiful, sweet fairy - and has become more of a guardian/parent to her
since his mother died. He even swapped a pair of his shoes one day, his only
shoes, for a feather for Pari to add to her collection. they have step siblings
and a step uncle called Nabi. nabi works in Kabul for a wealthy childless
couple, chauffering and odd jobs.
One day Saboor tells Abdullah he is taking
his sister Pari to Kabul. Kabul is days away across the desert. Abdullah will
not stay behind he will not leave Pari's side so he joins them on their
journey. It will prove to be a life changing, heartbreaking journey which will
change all their lives for ever. As they say 'sometimes a finger must be cut to
save the hand'.
The story then takes several paths. It
jumps generations and continents from Afghanistan to Paris to a Greek island to
San Francisco. It follows a little of one persons story in the past then turns
to another person in the future.
I loved the beginning of the book and was
waiting for the usual Hosseini magic but I started to get lost after the second
half. I agreed with some of the other reviewers that unless you write a family
tree while you are reading it you you will lose track of who is whom. He seemed
to jump too far in the future that it often lost me. The generation gap meant
that I didn't realise that this child was an off-spring of an earlier
character.
I have to say that for me, it was not as
good as Kite Runner or Thousand Splendid Suns.
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