History Literature / AndTheMountainsEchoed

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: A nine-chapter GenerationalSaga starring several interconnected point-of-view characters, each with their own families and social circles.

Hosseini, in seven separate chapters, ends up telling the story from the perspective of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters seven different characters and their affiliates]], who are all [[OneDegreeOfSeparation somehow interconnected]]. He displays how each character grows and develops through the course of the events they experience. He touches on the various ways love manifests itself through sibling relationships, and how power corrupts and impedes one's ability to form meaningful relationships.

* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: Nila and her sexual poetry. Pari tries to emulate her mother by trying to be as sexy and into ''haute culture'', but it doesn't really work for her.

* MixedAncestry: Nila is half-Afghan, half-French, which is implied to contribute to her striking beauty.

** Despite being a male pair of cousins, this applies to Idris (a serious, awkward doctor) and Timur (a charming, gregarious self-made businessman), who were raised as brothers. Idris judges Timur's blatant efforts to make himself look good and resents him for his personality. Despite this, they are NotSoDifferent.

* InfantImmortality: Averted. Parwana and Saboor's first child, Omar, dies when he is two weeks old, and Nabi mentions that in the villages, cold takes the lives of a few infants every year.

* YourCheatingHeart: Nila cheated on Suleiman during their marriage, and Nabi knew about it. The revelation that [[spoiler: her husband was in love with Nabi]] adds perspective to it.

* BabiesEverAfter: Subverted. Nila apparently bought/adopted Pari with the intent of fixing holes in her personal life. While it does work for a while on the surface level -- her relationship with her husband (who also adores Pari) improves and Nila does her best to care for the girl -- it doesn't work in the long run, as Nila admits.

* InnocentInaccurate: A variation - Adel knows the truth about how his father married his mother, but due to his innocence, he doesn't realize how horrifying it is. Also he doesn't get at first the several hints that Gholam throws at him that his father is a war criminal and a drug lord.

** Gholam, Iqbal's son. He acts a bit antagonistically towards Adel but eventually befriends him and acknowledges that it's not his fault having the father he has.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: What happens to [[spoiler:Abdullah and Pari's half-brother Iqbal and his son, Gholam, despite Pari's search for them]], is never clarified -- although one can likely infer bad things.

* InnocentInaccurate: A variation - Adel knows the truth about how his father married his mother, but due to his innocence, he doesn't realize how horrifying it is.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Adel's father presents himself as a generous man who develops New Shadbagh, but he is actually a war criminal.

** Parwana for Masooma. Parwana refuses to allow herself to complain about it [[spoiler: since she's the one who caused the accident that crippled Masooma.]]
** Nabi for Suleiman, after the latter suffers a stroke. Nabi eventually fires the rest of the household and becomes the latter's primary companion and caretaker.
** Thalia has become this for Odelia in the latter's old age, moreso after [[spoiler:she is diagnosed with ALS]].

** Saboor with Nabi and his sisters, Masooma and Parwana, had known each other since they were children.

* DeathByChildbirth: Abdullah and Pari's mother died giving birth to the latter.

** Despite being a male pair of cousins, this applies Idris (a serious, awkward doctor) and Timur (a charming, gregarious self-made businessman), who were raised as brothers. Idris judges Timur's blatant efforts to make himself look good and resents him for his personality. Despite this, they are NotSoDifferent.

* HeartwarmingOrphan: Roshi. Deconstructed, as while her story of being a tragic orphan recovering from a serious head injury postwar is definitely moving, it is also turned into mass consumption for foreigners who cannot truly understand what she has gone through or offer meaningful help.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: [[http://cpeepsreads.weebly.com/uploads/4/3/3/6/4336930/9122023.jpg?498 This graphic]] explains the relationship between all the prominent characters a lot better than words ever could. And it's still confusing.

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: Seriously, what are the odds? Abdullah's sister Pari is sold to the Wahdatis, their step-uncle's wealthy employers. Markos happens to be a good friend of Nabi's, and helps him [[spoiler: pass on the letter to Pari informing her of her true parenthood]]. Idris and Timur grew up as Nabi's neighbors, move to the same city in the United States as Abdullah (the former is even Abdullah's family's doctor), and end up meeting Nabi again when they return. Adel becomes friends with Gholam, who is [[spoiler: the son of Abdullah's half-brother Iqbal, and Adel's father owns the same ancestral plot of land as Abdullah and Iqbal did, and...]] Yeah, it's confusing.

* PlatonicLifePartners: Markos and Thalia, who were childhood friends and maintain close contact, to the point that Thalia splits her considerable inheritance with him. It helps that she's a frequent companion of his mother. While both of them remain unmarried, it's mentioned that Markos feels guilty about the fact that he never fell in love with Thalia due to her disability.

* DeathByChildbirth: Abdullah and Pari's mother.

* LonelyRichKid: Adel, who lives in a luxurious compound but has no friends or companions besides his mother and his father's employees.

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: Seriously, what are the odds? Abdullah's sister Pari is sold to the Wahdatis, their step-uncle's wealthy employers. Markos happens to be a good friend of Nabi's, and helps him [[spoiler: pass on the letter to Pari informing her of her true parenthood]]. Idris and Timur grew up as Nabi's neighbors, move to the same city in the United States as Abdullah, and end up meeting Nabi again when they return. Adel becomes friends with Gholam, who is [[spoiler: the son of Abdullah's half-brother Iqbal, and Adel's father owns the same ancestral plot of land as Abdullah and Iqbal did, and...]] Yeah, it's confusing.

* PlatonicLifePartners: Markos and Thalia, who were childhood friends and maintain close contact. It helps that she's a frequent companion of his mother. Although it's mentioned that Markos feels guilty about the fact that he never fell in love with Thalia due to her disability.