Khaled Hosseini's 'And The Mountains Echoed'

An author is someone who simply writes a book. A great author is someone who uses their words to draw emotion from the reader. Reading their novel makes the reader feel some sort of connection to the life of the characters and situations. Khaled Hosseini is a great author. Hosseini’s works paint a frank portrait of life as it really is. By studying Hosseini’s background, accomplishments, and analysis of his literary work, we are able to get a glimpse into the life of this phenomenal author. “Kabul is… a thousand tragedies per square mile” (Hosseini 163). Kabul is a city in Afghanistan ravaged by poverty and violence. This quote from Hosseini’s novel, And the Mountains Echoed, is saying how many people have died or have had something horrible

Part of Hosseini’s immense popularity is due to the vast quantity of awards he has received. Hosseini’s first book, The Kite Runner is the most popular and widely received of all of his books. For writing The Kite Runner, Hosseini has won a numerous amount of awards. The Kite Runner was named A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, an Entertainment Weekly Top Ten Fiction Pick of the Year, and an American Library Association Notable Book (khaledhosseini.com). Hosseini also was a recipient of The American Place Theatre’s Literature to Life Award (khaledhosseini.com). Over the course of its publication, The Kite Runner has sold 12 million copies in over 40 languages (achievement.org). It was published in 70 countries, however not in Afghanistan, Hosseini’s home country (famousauthors.org). Amazingly, The Kite Runner has spent over two years on The New York Times best-seller book list (achievement.org). Hosseini’s second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, was almost as popular as his first novel. Due to its popularity, it also received a lot of positive feedback and awards. A Thousand Splendid Suns spent 103 weeks on The New York Times best-seller booklist (khaledhosseini.org). It was also number one on the book lists of USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Publishers Weekly, and Fort-Wayne