Khaled Hosseini Books
Khaled Hosseini, a prominent Afghani author, is best known for three novels, each of which has been critically acclaimed and well-received by the public. By far, the most famous is The Kite Runner, a 2004 novel that tells the story of two young men that come of age during some of the most tumultuous years of Afghanistan's history. By incorporating themes of guilt and redemption into his writing, Hosseini is able to take these geographically isolated experiences and create universal themes that any reader the world over can relate to.
In 2008, Hosseini published A Thousand Splendid Suns, a novel that tells of the experiences of Afghan women across various generations. Hosseini presented this novel as the other half of a dichotomous pair with The Kite Runner; the previous book told a father-son relationship while this tells of a mother-daughter relationship. Addressing common issues of social stigmas, the unequal pressures placed upon women, and the internal divide that takes place when choosing a marriage for love, convenience, or practicality, A Thousand Splendid Suns is slightly more focused in its target audience than its predecessor but is no less impactful.
Hosseini's third prominent book is 2013's And the Mountains Echoed, a piece that transitions sharply from his previous two texts. Whereas The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns focus on one or two characters' experiences - usually focusing on one specific person for the bulk of the story - And the Mountains Echoed is set up with a different character presenting each chapter. While the connecting element of each chapter is one event - the sale of a young Afghan child to a childless couple - the narrative style, perspective, and content of each chapter is entirely unique to the character writing it. While Hosseini keeps the connection to Afghanistan constant in each of his three prominent texts, the final text of each is markedly different from the last, telling the stories of the human condition in a specific geographic area, yet connecting those experiences to the world as a whole.