The Kite Runner of Khaled Hosseini's deeply moving fiction debut is an illiterate Afghan boy with an uncanny instinct for predicting exactly where a downed kite will land. Growing up in the city of Kabul in the early 1970s, Hassan was narrator Amir's closest friend even though the loyal 11-year-old with "a face like a Chinese doll" was the son of Amir's father's servant and a member of Afghanistan's despised Hazara minority. But in 1975, on the day of Kabul's annual kite-fighting tournament, something unspeakable happened between the two boys.
Narrated by Amir, a 40-year-old novelist living in California, The Kite Runner tells the gripping story of a boyhood friendship destroyed by jealousy, fear, and the kind of ruthless evil that transcends mere politics. Running parallel to this personal narrative of loss and redemption is the story of modern Afghanistan and of Amir's equally guilt-ridden relationship with the war-torn city of his birth. The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner begins in the final days of King Zahir Shah's 40-year reign and traces the country's fall from a secluded oasis to a tank-strewn battlefield controlled by the Russians and then the trigger-happy Taliban. When Amir returns to Kabul to rescue Hassan's orphaned child, the personal and the political get tangled together in a plot that is as suspenseful as it is taut with feeling.
The son of an Afghan diplomat whose family received political asylum in the United States in 1980, Hosseini combines the unflinching realism of a war correspondent with the satisfying emotional pull of master storytellers such as Rohinton Mistry. Like the kite that is its central image, the story line of this mesmerizing first novel occasionally dips and seems almost to dive to the ground. But Hosseini ultimately keeps everything airborne until his heartrending conclusion in an American picnic park. --Lisa Alward, Amazon.ca
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: wow Comment: I'm not normally a reader, it's been many years since I've managed to find a book captivating enough to catch my attention all the way through; until i found this book.
I decided to give reading another go and started reading The Kite Runner, and I was amazed! It truly is one of those books you just can't put down.
There are many experienced reviewers here who are big fans - but even from a non experienced novel reader there is something everybody will enjoy and take out of this.
Definitely a book to add to the list! Customer Rating: Summary: Books This Good Come Along Rarely Comment: Though 'The Kite Runner' was first published in 2003 it reads like a book written by one of the masters of literature centuries ago - the level of language used, and the timeless story of friendship, betrayal, guilt and redemption make me believe that this will not be a book to be forgotten anytime soon but will be a book to outlive us all.
I put off reading this novel for a good few years as the blurb never gripped me - there was too much focus on Afghanistan and the country's fall (basically, too much History and Politics) but as there's a saying that 'you should never judge a book by it's cover' I think the same should also be spoken about blurbs, for though Afghanistan is an important part of the story it by no means overshadows the main story of Amir and Hassan, two best friends who's friendship is one day torn in two - something Amir, decades later, has bever been able to forgive himself about. And I feel I have to say, the parts that do focus on Anfhanistan and the country's past are done so in such a skilled way that I found myself fascinated (and horrified) by what happened to the country, and wanting to know more.
Theres a way that Khaled Hosseini writes, that feels so natural yet powerful at the same time, a skill that most authors take years to perfect and many never get to the same level Hosseini is with his debut novel. I was often reminded of the way Dicken's writes (though Hosseini is much lighter on the descriptive side), and a critic once mentioned a similarity to Shakespeare too, not in writing style but due to the heart of the novel - the focus on friendship and love. In my opinion, that comparison is wholey deserved.
One thing I really liked about this novel was the focus on friendship rather than a romantic relationship. It's refreshing to read about the love between best friends (especially during childhood, when friends are one of the most important things in your life), as most novels these days, if not mainly about a romantic relationship in the first place often star one in the background. Friendship rarely gets as much coverage, though at times I'd say the relationship between people who you've known your entire life and who have always been there for you through thick and thin is even more powerul.
Of course, there are faults with this novel, as there are with every novel. My main criticism would be about 100 pages from the end, when Amir goes to find Sohrab, and how everything just conveniently fits into place. The random begger on the street who just happened to know Amir's mother well, the identity of Sohrab's buyer - the entire novel before then had felt realistic, it may have even been an autobiography, all the events could have happened - the whole story felt genuine. But at this point I was suddenly brought back to the realisation that this was in fact a work of fiction, that none of these characters ever existed. This was the one moment in the otherwise perfect novel that let it down drastically for me.
Theres so much to say about this novel, but nothing I say could really be the same as reading the novel yourself. It's an incredible book (definately one of my top 3 all time favourites) but just one warning - after reading this your expectations for a book will be irreversibly raised, and most other novels will just fall short and disappoint. I now can't wait to read Hosseini's second book, which I've heard is just as book, infact, even better than 'The Kite Runner'. Now that's something I can't imagine.
Customer Rating: Summary: Drop everything - read this book! Comment: Oh my goodness, just finished The Kite Runner! The most epically tragic book I have ever read. My heart feels abit broken.....
After reading this book I just wanted to scoop all the characters up and tell them it will be ok. I had tears in my eyes throughout,this really is a very special book.
Customer Rating: Summary: A Page Turner that's Good for the Soul Comment: A lot of novels are "worthy" but you need to put a lot of effort into getting the most out of them; others are page-turners and pass the time easily and pleasurably, but don't do much else. The Kite Runner has that rare quality of being both worthy and a page-turner - and you learn a good slice about Afghan culture to boot. It's a very concisely written novel which tells a fascinating story and which contains sharply-observed characters that you come to really care about; the author's honesty shines through from start to finish. Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent Comment: On a Winter's day in 1975 Amir witnesses an awful act involving his childhood friend Hassan that will have unimaginable bearings on the rest of his life. Amir is the privaleged son of a rich and respected merchant in Afghanistan; Hassan is the son of his father's long-time servant Ali. Although from different ends of the spectrum, the boys share a childhood until the day that changes both of their lives forever.
There are so many themes running through Hosseini's book; friendship, childhood, loyalty, trust, cruelty and redemption are just a few. The author manages to vividly evoke the daily horror of Afghanistan under Taliban rule, especially when mirrored with the security of Amir's new life in San Francisco.
I had constantly put off reading this book as I was worried that all of the hype surrounding it would be unfounded. However, I have to say that this is one of the best books that I have read in such a long time. The Kite Runner is not a nice book, it explores the decisions we make in life and what it is that leads us to make different choices. Why does one person run whilst another stays to fight, however terrified? Hosseini has you gripped from the first page and there are many twists and turns along the way but I believe that the reader keeps turning the pages due to a sense of hope that Amir will find true redemption. As the book states:
'...there are bad people in this world, and sometimes bad people stay bad.'
The reader knows what Amir did on that Winter day was horrendous and in some ways unforgiveable but the actions he takes later in life ensures that he does not remain a bad person, a fate that befalls other characters in the book.
