And the Mountains Echoed
by Khaled Hosseini
★ Top 25 book of 2013 · #16 on Best Books of 2013
Two motherless siblings growing up in poverty in 1952 Afghan village life set off a chain of events that ripples outward. Across generations and from Afghanistan to the United States, Paris, and Greece, the story explores love, sacrifice, and moral complexity.
Best for: Readers who like multigenerational stories about family bonds and difficult moral choices
And the Mountains Echoed is #16 on BookWard's Best Books of 2013, out of 45 2013 books that cleared our data bar.
What And the Mountains Echoed is about
Nine chapters, nine different narrators, and one decision made in a poor Afghan village in 1952 that keeps rippling outward. Saboor, a farmer with almost nothing, agrees to give his three-year-old daughter Pari to a rich, childless couple in Kabul. Her ten-year-old brother Abdullah, who has looked after her since their mother died, cannot simply let her go.
From there, Khaled Hosseini lets each chapter belong to someone new, so the book reads a little like linked stories. Relatives, servants and strangers all get their turn, and the setting moves from Afghanistan to Paris and the United States.
And the Mountains Echoed on the Best Books of 2013
And the Mountains Echoed came out in 2013. Of the 45 books first published in 2013 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #16 on our Best Books of 2013 list.
Why it made the list: 385 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.1 out of 5 (25 ratings); 29 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2013 list
- Bully Penelope Douglas, #14
- Inferno Dan Brown, #15
- Contagious Jonah Berger, #17
- A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms George R. R. Martin, #18
See all Best Books of 2013 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2012 Best Books of 2014.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 317 want to read it, 29 are reading it now and 39 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.1 out of 5 from 25 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 67 | 55% |
| Reader love | 51 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 78 | 20% |
Questions about And the Mountains Echoed
When was And the Mountains Echoed published?
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini was first published in 2013.
Was And the Mountains Echoed one of the best books of 2013?
And the Mountains Echoed is #16 on BookWard's Best Books of 2013, out of 45 2013 books that cleared our data bar. 385 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.1 out of 5 (25 ratings); 29 are reading it right now.
Why is And the Mountains Echoed on the Best Books of 2013 list?
385 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.1 out of 5 (25 ratings); 29 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 2013
- House of Hades Rick Riordan, #1
- Hard Luck Jeff Kinney, #2
- Crown of Midnight Sarah J. Maas, #3
- The Screaming Staircase Jonathan Stroud, #4
- Unravel Me Tahereh Mafi, #5
- The Goldfinch Donna Tartt, #6
See the full Best Books of 2013, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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