Prose

While I was reading the back of the book, I noticed a review from USA Today.

“Hosseini’s writing makes our hearts ache, our stomachs clench, and our emotions reel…[He] tells this saddest of stories in achingly beautiful prose through stunningly heroic chracters whose spirits somehow grasp the dimmest rays of hope.” (USA Today)

One word struck me out of the whole review: prose. I strongly agreed with the fact that Hosseini was capable of using prose to his fullest advantage. But what is prose? There are many ways to define prose since it doesn’t really have any rules that apply to it. My definition for Hosseini’s version of prose is that he uses it to express the feeling around the current setting. When the reader reads his setting/character descriptions, they will know if the character is nostalgic or vengeful. Here is an example below:

“The Bamiyan Valley below was carpeted by lush farming fields. Babi said they were green winter wheat and alfafa, potatoes too. The fields were bordered by poplars and crisscrossed by streams and irrigation ditches, on the banks of which tiny femal figures squatted and washed clothes…‘It’s so quiet,’ Laila breathed. She could see tiny sheep and horses but couldn’t hear their bleating and whinnying.” (Hosseini, 148)

There is a very enchanting way that Hosseini handles character/setting descriptions. He makes the reader feel as if they are present in the dream or nightmare he writes on the paper. He also uses Arabic words to cement the prose into his work. He uses them as if the reader is also part Arabic and can connect to the words like he can connect. Finally, elements of nature are ever-present in his work, just like orthodox poetry. From ‘lush farming fields’ to ‘sun-light hair’, the reader is able to ‘feel’ the wind blowing through their hair.