Article contributed by Suya Chry
Welcome to Author Spotlight, where readers with a despairing reading slump can come and get the cure for it in the form of discovering an amazing author. When I read, I want to live in my book. I want to laugh and cry, I want to see how the other 7.5 billion humans beside me live in their own corners of the world. From the thousands of authors who write thousands of stories, one who never let me down in making me do just that is Khaled Hosseini.
Hosseini’s writing makes our hearts ache, our stomachs clench, and our emotions reel. —USA Today
Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-born, American-resident author who is renowned for his emotional novels. His books provide heart-wrenching insight to lives of people during the American invasion in Afghanistan in the 1970s. Focusing on the darker aspects of love and sacrifice, Hosseini writes the most heartbreaking plots in his books. He has published three novels and one illustrated novel since 2003.
The characters from his books aren’t easily loved or hated. He has sketched them in ways both good and bad that the reader is struck by the reality of the world, that nothing is black and white. Hassan’s unending loyalty to Amir, his master’s son is almost to a fault, and Jalal giving away his daughter to an old man angers us, but Hosseini wants his readers to know that no one is perfect. In his books, everyone makes mistakes. However, he also shows us that despite those mistakes, not everyone is evil.
“Behind every trial and sorrow that He makes us shoulder, God has a reason.” ―A Thousand Splendid Suns
One of the many things that captured my heart while reading Hosseini’s novels is how intricately each one of the characters is fashioned into the bigger story. From poor farmers in a village to rich merchants in cities, he shows us several varying tormenting life stories.
“I now know that some people feel unhappiness the way others love: privately, intensely, and without recourse.” ―And the Mountains Echoed
Then there’s the relationships. Be it romance, friendship, or family, Hosseini portrays intense and strong bonds between the characters. Some of his characters convince us that love is above all by sacrificing something or the other for their loved ones. His novels give life to the sacramental commitments of their characters.
“For you, a thousand times over” ―The Kite Runner
His debut novel, The Kite Runner, focuses on the friendship between two boys, Hassan and Amir, and has even been adapted as a movie. His second published work, A Thousand Splendid Suns, cracks the intense friendship between two women, Laila and Mariam. And The Mountains Echoed is his third novel and it starts with the separation of brother and sister, Abdulla and Parr, and continues on to display the heartbreaking stories of nine interrelated characters. Hosseini’s latest work, Sea Prayer, is a rather short, illustrated novel which takes a different turn and provides the haunting image of the war in Syria, in the form of a letter from a father to his son.
You can find more information about him on Goodreads and his website, and you can buy his books from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
