And the Mountains Echoed- were you as disappointed as I was?

[grumpasaur]

I was so excited when I saw that Khaled Husseini had a new book out. I loved The Kite Runner and was really moved by A Thousand Splendid Suns...

Alas the book was so all over the place that I felt I never got the chance to properly connect with any of the characters, and I just didn't see the 'point' of the story. There was neither a strong plot not strong character development- surely one is needed?

Did like the love story though- won't say any more in case of spoiling it!

Oooh I'm about a third of the way though and I'm really enjoying it so far!

It was nice but not very well connected and some parts seemed really irrelevant ( bit about the doctors youth). Also had very similar elements from previous two books. A real shame as I loved the kite runner.

I didn't enjoy it as much as his previous books, I felt liked he tried to include too many stories, and not all of them were needed, I remember about 3/4 of the way through suddenly new characters appear and I just wanted to know about the original ones

Yes, I felt the same way- why did we care about the doctor's youth? Why were there sooooo many characters- I think that 2-3 fewer characters may have been okay, but every time one character ended, I felt disappointed that I then had to leave them behind... And I never felt like anything was properly picked up again. I found the whole book just left me a bit wanting.

Also- I completely agree that a lot of the same issues were dealt with in his last two books. In general, I don't think this has to be a bad thing, but in this case, I felt that he was trying to ride on his own coat-tails a bit... Maybe he felt we would care more because we had already invested in the other two stories?

I don't know... I do know that I started off hopeful, remained optimistic about 2/3 of the way through, and then really lost all interest when we were sent over to a small island in Greece!!

Agree with MoreBoober: it was nice...but not exhilarating like the Kiterunner and Thousand Splendid Suns.
The other two I couldn't put down, and while this is a perfectly readable book, it is unfortunate in that the reader will immediately have high expectations of it. Which is doesn't reach

To me it felt like Khaled Hosseini had put several ideas he had had for novels all together in this one.

I read it for the MN book club a few months ago and was disappointed. Some of it I liked but felt it just didn't fit together as a novel.

Like others here I thought the doctor's story in Greece didn't fit, but could have been a whole different novel in the making.

That was my first of his novels, but have since read The Kite Runner. Not a huge fan of that one either - first part was great but second part seemed rushed.

I just found it unbearably bleak.

Yes, disappointed and agree with all of your comments. Too many characters, all a bit disjointed and random. Worth reading but not a great read by any means. Smacks of trying too hard.

I absolutely hated it, but hated 'Suns' too, although I loved, 'The Kiterunner.'

Honestly, I thought it was a load of absolute twaddle.

Yes I was massively disappointed , really looking forward to it and saved it for my holidays but felt it was all over the place and when the ending did come it was a disappointment really, I loved suns , cried at both that book and kite runner. My daughter has just read suns and found it gripping but I couldn't really recommend this new one it just wasn't as good.

Sorry I had abandoned the thread- I am not MN savvy enough to set it up so that it tells me when someone has posted...

Seems the general consensus was poor, and I agree- it smacked of trying too hard!

About to start a new thread on "Fault in Our Stars"- maybe see some of you over there.

I was very disappointed with the book as I found it long winded and rather disconnected, unlike his previous two novels. He needed a good editor but maybe as he's so successful now he didn't allow one near the manuscript :-(

Started this on holiday and put it down, as couldn't get into it. I think i'll try again. I want to like it, as I loved Suns and Kite Runner. Loved Her, though!