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I picked this up a few days ago when I found out that it’s the book that’ll be discussed at (another!) new book club that I’m going to tomorrow. I read The Kite Runner by the author a couple of years ago, but was reluctant to read anything else by him because while I loved The Kite Runner, I wasn’t enthused by the plot of any of his other books. I’m very glad I did read it though because it turned out to be very good.

A multi-layered book told from varying viewpoints, this was ultimately about people, their families, the ties that bind them and the stifling relationships that can often be borne out of those links. Spanning many years, this has a strong focus in Kabul and later America.

This book nearly read like a collection of short stories with interwoven threads throughout that gradually came together.

As is customary with Khaled Hosseini, his characters were very well-done. Because there were quite a few characters though, I felt they weren’t quite as rich as they could have been. The plot of the novel spanned a vast amount of time and space though, so it was only realistic to have quite a few players. The central plot line was focused on two people and that’s when I thought the novel worked best.

It’s hard to know what to say about this novel. On one hand it’s wide-reaching and about so much, but on the other it was very focused on relationships and family. There was a great realism here that made the book very identifiable, but yet the plot just didn’t really do it for me and at times it was just too sad. I think I need something light-hearted next!