The Kite Runner Review

Today I read The Kite Runner, a novel by by Khaled Hosseini, who with his father's family travelled to America to escape the Taliban.  I actually mean that -- today. All 400 pages.  In two hours and 30 minutes on a flight from Dayton, Ohio to Houston Texas.

The Kite Runner Story Line  

A young man, (Amir),coming of age story, finding out that the world around him is not as he thinks, he struggles with his desire to act one way, (a writer) while attempting to achieve his father's love.  His actions while he is growing up lead both him and his hazara. (slave) named Hasan, whom quite often he refers to as his friend, to travel along very different paths in life.  After the death of his mother in child birth, he and his best friend, playmate and slave are raised together, often almost like brother's with his father having a special interest in his friend, and providing him with gifts and special opportunities.  Insecure in his placement in his father's affections, Amir decides to create an opportunity to discredit Hassan permanently and have him removed from the household, hoping his father's affections will then turn to him alone.

The Kite Runner Setting

Several settings exist, as the reader watches Amir grow up in pre -Taliban Afghanistan, to travel to Pakistan and throughout his adult life in the San Francisco, California area.

The Kite Runner Characters

Major and minor characters were fully revealed to the reader, with all their flaws as well as glories.  The relationships between all the characters leads the reader throughout the story in such as way as to draw you deeply and firmly into their lives, thoughts and hearts.

Key Quotes from The Kite Runner

• For you a thousand times. . .

This one, spoken by the servant Hassan, to prove his devotion to Amir, actually shows so much more than devotion, but love, respect and care.  Many characters in this story exhibit this quality throughout the boyhood of Amir and Hassan, the escape from Soviet occupied Afghanistan, the settling into the new world of America, and the quest to discover what happened in Taliban controlled Afghanistan to friends and family.

• We nursed at the same breast. . .  

Amir's mother died in childbirth and Hassan's mother disappeared. However, Hassan was not gifted with good looks and opportunity, while Amir grew up in a life of affluence and respect. But at some point they were equals, as they nursed from the same wet nurse.

• The end is all that matters . . .

A wonderful metaphor for how the characters achieved forgiveness, not just from others for their wrong doing, but how they learned to forgive themselves and others.

My Viewpoint

I devoured this book. I did not want my roasted peanuts. I did not want my cup of soda, juice or coffee.  I didn't leave my seat.  What few grammar mistakes I encountered, I actually for the first time in my life ignored and every once in awhile the thought passed through  my mind that for someone who learned English as a second (or possibly fourth language) he had a remarkable command of it.  The story,descriptions, and characters drew me directly into the book, almost as if as a reader I was floating high above the story watching it unfold. Each character's experiences were real, honest and truthful.  It was a thoughtful and thought provoking look at another culture, another life and another time and place.  Hopefully for those who read it they will realize that many perceptions of other cultures are misconceptions and take a closer look at what those who have lived life within that culture have to say about it.

At times it was humorous, especially as Amir observes and questions many of the societal customs and rules that his culture places on him, long after they are gone from Afghanistan. Other times it was on the edge of your seat suspense as you hope for the best, but realize that during many of the darkness times of history, there are few opportunities for the best, and many for the worst. It explores both the dark and "light" side of human nature.

The Kite Runner is a page turning wonderfully expressive novel. It was poignant, sorrowful, thoughtful and captivating.  It is also humorous, thought provoking and expressed truly the characters journey though life, not only in a superficial way, but by providing insights into the characters motivations, growth and development.