Traumatic Familial Relationships in Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed

Abstract

Khaled Hosseini is one of the most acclaimed writers internationally for his sensitive portrayal of characters caught in the trauma of war and the complexities of familial relationships. He was born in Kabul in 1965 and has lived in the US as his family was forced to find shelter there after the situation deteriorated in his own country. His first novel The Kite Runner was an instant success and it established him among the most popular literary writers around the globe. Whereas in The Kite Runner Hosseini portrayed the father-son relationship most touchingly, in A Thousand Splendid Suns, he explored other familial relationships-husband and wife, mother and son and also the bonding of women. In And the Mountains Echoed Hosseini goes a step further and gives us various familial relationships -from various sets of siblings to parents and children. Throughout the novel, the characters are constantly grappling with the complexities and challenges of family dynamics, including issues of loyalty, love and betrayal. This paper is an attempt to analyse the impact of trauma in various ways on people tied to familial bonds.