This is one of
the phenomenal books that I have come across after a long time. Khaled Hosseini
is also the author of the famous book The
Kite Runner. He has well-described and in-depth all his characters. Usually
as I start reading, I tend to ignore few characters that seem unimportant to me
but you can’t afford to miss any character because it is quite possible that
that person might end up being the protagonist in the next section.
The curtain
rises in Shadbagh, 1952 in which a father is telling his children a bedtime
story. The story is well- presented and is a replica of what will happen in the
story later. The bedtime story is about a
jinn who takes away one child from the village and how the child’s father Baba Ayub is determined to find the jinn and get back his son. But when he at
last finds the jinn and his son he doesn't not bring him back because he knew that
he could not afford a luxurious life like the one he has now. Every night the
father used to hear a voice but never understood what it really was.
The next section
of the story is about how the father gives away his daughter to a family in
Kabul. The story narrates a very strong bond between the brother Abdullah and
his sister Pari. Then on, the whole book describes about each and every person
who are attached to this child, it might be a neighbour or even the driver.
Even though the girl had all the luxuries but she always found something
missing in her life.
Every chapter
talks about the importance of relations and how some people chose to walk
away in their lives without showing any importance to feelings like Pari’s step
mother, Mrs. Wahadati who leaves her husband and goes away to Paris on the
other end a person like Nabi, their driver who stays back to take care of his
master till his death. The story also classifies the broken lives of people
like Mrs.Wahadati who depend on lust and alcohol. It even describes about the
meaning of beauty to the world and how people judge on appearance with the
story of Thalia.
Every chapter is
interconnected and well-presented but you need to concentrate and remember all
the names so that you don’t miss out anyone. The imagination and story-telling
pattern is outstanding. Each story has some pain attached and a longing in people to be
with each other.
In the end, you
might hope that the brother regains his memory and both of them reunite after
years of suffering. I don’t want to disclose the
suspense. But this book is a must-read.
