A Muslim writer in America
khalid husseini
Khaled Hosseini is a Muslim citizen of the United States, where he has lived for the past 33 years. Khaled was born in Afghanistan in 1965 and came with his father to the US in 1981 after his father was granted political asylum.
That was the period when the Soviets engineered a communist coup in Afghanistan and Khalid’s father couldn’t go back. He was working in Paris at the time. Khalid’s father, in any case, did not want to return to Afghanistan and opted for the easier option of seeking asylum in the United States. The US government, with its phobia of communism, easily granted Hosseini asylum.
In America
Perhaps if the setting had been 2013, Khalid’s father would not have been granted asylum so easily. The wheel has come full circle and Muslims who may or may not have ties to terrorism are no longer welcome in the United States. It is to Khaled Hosseini’s credit that he has integrated into American life. But he all the time he has kept the Muslim trappings of him.
He began writing at the turn of the 21st century and published his first novel, ‘The Kite Runner’, in 2003. The novel was a huge success, topping bestseller lists for over 101 weeks. One of the reasons for the book’s success was its location, Afghanistan, which remains an enigma to most Americans. The old saying ‘distance lends charm to the eye’ has been used by Hosseini to tempt American audiences with his Afghanistan-setting books.
And the mountain echoed
Khalid Hosseini has now written another novel titled ‘And the Mountain Echoed’ in 2013. This is his third novel and it again has Afghanistan as its backdrop. Afghanistan is the writer’s home country and it is natural that most of his writings highlight the culture and clash of values of life in Afghanistan. Hosseini is not limited to Afghanistan, but covers a journey that takes the reader from Kabul to Paris and beyond to the United States. It is a very well written book and Hosseini presents a very plausible story.
The story begins in an Afghan village when a poor man named Saboor tells a story to justify his actions to his son, Abdullah. The real-life implication of the story is that Abdullah separates from his sister Pari, whom he loves very much. He finds out that his father, Saboor, plans to sell his sister to a wealthy couple in Kabul. She leaves, and that emptiness forever alters the lives of the young children.
Pari remains in Abdullah’s mind as Hosseini covers a six-decade period from the 1950s to the 21st century. The characters move from small towns in Afghanistan to Paris and finally to the Greek island of Tinos.
Hosseini relates a side story of characters like Pari’s stepmother Parwana and her brother Nab. Hosseini writes beautifully and one cannot tell from his writing that he is not an American by birth. His only gift is his setting of Afghanistan, which presents American readers with a beautiful story of human emotions.
Hosseini and Afghanistan
This novel is exquisite, and readers will find information about Afghanistan wrapped up in a delightful tale. Hosseini highlights Afghanistan’s rich cultural heritage and what life is like in Afghan villages. It is sad that the Taliban have started an insurrection and want to impose the Wahhabi form of Islam. This may well take the Afghans back to the 6th century if they win. Hosseini deserves credit for writing this novel that has been liked by the general American population.
Last word
Hosseini graduated as a physician from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine in 1993. He practiced medicine for 10 years before venturing as a writer with his book ‘The Kite Runners’. Subsequently, he wrote ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’
Last word
Hosseini is a goodwill envoy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and visited Afghanistan in 2007. He currently resides in Northern California with his wife Roya and their two children. But despite this, Hosseini is a man who will never return to Afghanistan.
free wiki photos