The Kite Runner

book about

In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do. He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political turmoil--in this case, Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over. And he does this on his first try.


The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted. Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty. In part, it is these demons and the sometimes impossible quest for forgiveness that bring him back to his war-torn native land after it comes under Taliban rule. ("...I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.")


Some of the plot's turns and twists may be somewhat implausible, but Hosseini has created characters that seem so real that one almost forgets that The Kite Runner is a novel and not a memoir. At a time when Afghanistan has been thrust into the forefront of America's collective consciousness ("people sipping lattes at Starbucks were talking about the battle for Kunduz"), Hosseini offers an honest, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, but always heartfelt view of a fascinating land. Perhaps the only true flaw in this extraordinary novel is that it ends all too soon. --Gisele Toueg --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Yup, i read the book and watched the film too... Wasn't really my type of book though, but well-written.

format_quote Originally Posted by Hayaa

Yep, I read it a few years ago. I liked his other book- A Thousand Splendid Suns- better.

I read this one.

In the book, Amir already knows that he & Hassan have been breastfed by the same woman, which makes them foster brothers. Islamicaly, foster siblings are given the same status as REAL siblings..

So, I don't see why he gets so shocked when later in the book, he learns that Hassan is his father's son and as his brother, he would be obliged to take care of Hassan's son. He would have been obliged to, even if they did not have the same father.

This book is more beatiful than film

Yup.read it and loved it.

Greetings,

I read it about a year ago and enjoyed it immensely. For weeks afterwards I kept being struck by the subtleties and narrative skill of the book. A Thousand Splendid Suns is on the list and I'll get to it one day.

Peace

Thankfully, I dont get swayed away into emotions through such novels.

Didn't read the book, but seen it like 5 times on tv.