# Reading > Write a Book Review >  The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

## wordsworth

Glorious flight 

Author: Khaled Hosseini 
Publisher: Bloomsbury 
Published in: 2003 
Pages: 324 
Genre: Fiction 

BY Sandhya Iyer 

If I were to judge this novel by its first 100 pages, Ill say Ive never read anything half as good as this. Its a portion that is narrated with such heart wrenching passion and devastating beauty that its images are bound to haunt anyone who has loved with complete devotion. 

Which is exactly why, I was terribly rankled with debutant writer Khaled Hosseini for messing up the story somewhere in the middle. Finally, it starts to resemble a kind of a folk tale, with bizarre turns. For a novel that starts off so brilliantly and could have easily bagged itself a place of pride in the annals of classic Modern literature, it ends up being nothing more (or less) than popular, good fiction! 

Still, its a novel that deserves to be read for its lingering impact and awesomely etched characters. Not to add, the fact that it is set in 1970 Afghanistan, which enables the author to take the reader into a milieu and age one knows little about. 

The story is about Amir (who serves as the authors alter ego) and his loving servant-friend Hassan. Their childhood appears a picture of bliss, though Hosseini constantly draws our attention to the fixed power equation between the two. While Amir is the son of a wealthy businessman, Hassan is not only poor but also cursed to be born as a Hazara (Shia Muslim) in a place where the community is constantly taunted and ill-treated. 

Amirs father, a generous but emotionally withdrawn man, treats Hassan with unusual kindness. The latter, in turn, shows undying devotion and love to his little master (Amir). 

The author, who quite obviously, has a penchant for irony as a literary device (and he even mentions this through one of his characters), uses it excessively all through the novel. Here, he employs it to bring out the slightly perverted streak in Amirs character, something which all of us are probably guilty of at some point in life. 

Amir knows Hassans unstinted love for him and hence loves to tease him. 
Would I ever lie to you Amir agha? 
Suddenly, I decided to toy with him a little. I dont know. Would you? 
Id sooner eat dirt, he said with a look of indignation. 
Really? Youd do that? 
He threw a puzzled look. Do what? 
Eat dirt if I told you to. I said.. 
If you asked, I would, he finally said, looking right at me. To this day, I find it hard to gaze directly at people like Hassan, people who mean every word they say. 

But a great act of betrayal from Amir changes their lives forever. Hassan is brutally raped by a bunch of bullies but Amir is too scared to launch an attack and just helplessly watches on. 
The guilt kills Amir slowly and it pushes him further and further into an abyss. The fact that he didnt stand up for Hassan in his desperate hour of need fills his heart with remorse and pain. 

The interesting episodes in the later half of this novel relates to Amir and his fathers great escape from Afghanistan and their stay in America, where they live modestly. 

I didnt care too much about the douzen pages dedicated to explaining Babas illness or even Amirs marriage to Saroya, though they are still very readable. 
In all this, the reader misses Hassan immensely and honestly, I was all set for a wonderful meeting point between the two estranged friends. 

But the author has other ideas. 
When Amir comes to Peshawar, at the request of his mentor-friend Rahim Khan, he comes to understand truths that both shock and unsettle him. 
He learns of Hassan and his wifes brutal murder at the hands of the Talibans, who had come to cease power by then. 

Hassans death in the novel is something I could not accept. I mean, here was a guy who only knew how to love, to sacrifice. And frankly, being someone who believes in the idea of poetic justice, this just didnt seem right to me. 
Sadly, this choice of plot seemed more like a mandatory one, so as to allow its protagonist to redeem himself through Hassans orphaned son. 

However, in all this, the novels most chilling twist, about how the boys were related in more ways than they knew, is a sheer masterstroke by Hosseini. 

Ultimately, Ill say that this is a commendable novel, extremely uplifting, with tremendous emotional power. 
But again, Hosseinis craft isnt quite flawless here some things are best left unsaid but the author prefers to state and re-state it. 
Also, the novel falls short of creating a metaphor out of its story and characters in a convincing way. 
In that sense, its a kite that soars high, dancing joyfully amidst the blue sky, until it is sharply cut off and cannot quite land well.

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## Nossa

The story tells of the two childhood friends Amir and Hassan. Amir is the wealthy son of a very important figure in Afghanista, while Hassan is thier 'Hazara' servant, and the son of Ali, thier long time servant. 

Amir is an insecure person, someone who's always pushed around and bullied by other kids, and always defended by his all time friend, Hassan, who sticks out for him no matter what. Amir always felt that his father hates him, and was always hoping and wishing for his father's love and approval, no matter what the costs are. Eventually, Amir's 'way' of getting his father's love works out, on the expense of his loyal friend Hassan. The outcome of Amir's action lands Hassan out of the house, and Amir in a continuent guilt.

After the soviet invasion to Afghanistan, Amir and his father flee to America, on a search for a new life. But one phone call, after almost 25 years from leaving Afghanistan, leads Amir back to his childhood place, and gives him yet another chance to reconcile with the past, and make up for his mistake towards Hassan, the mistake that, on the long run, led to Hassan's murder.

The story is heart-breaking, it literally made me cry. I can promise you, after you read this book, your heart will skip a beat everytime you see a kite in the sky.

10/10

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## Pensive

Good review, Nossa! I personally liked this novel immensely too.

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## iloveoscar

This book changed my perception of the Middle East, giving names and faces and personalities to the people who live there. I cried countless times throughout the novel, as I'm sure everyone else did when they read it. It tells a heart-wrenching story of the friendship and estrangement of childhood friends, thrown together by circumstance but finding a bond that survived years apart.

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## Kafka's Crow

It starts off very well but then becomes a 'bestseller' giving market what it is howling for, a kind of 'tabloid fiction'. He has bagged himself quite a lot of money with this book, he could have achieved more. 6/10

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## eyemaker

I really love the novel! I'll be watching the dramatized movie of the said novel tomorrow...I can't wait to see how the movie was directed.

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## vheissu

I read _A thousand splendid suns_ and soon after _The kite runner_. Both books are set in aproximately the same time frame but I much preferred _A thousand splendid suns_. 
As *Antiquarian* said already, it was overly melodramatic after the first half of the book and I found the perspective of Amir's endless guilt from his childhood, not only for Hassan but also for his father, ending up being repetitive.

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## thelastmelon

I thought it was a beautiful book. And the fact that it was quite "melodramatic" didn't bother me. I still loved it.  :Smile:

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## curlyqlink

The popularity of this book is I think readily explicable, riding as it does a recent wave of interest in this part of the world. Its fame rests on events in the news, and not on any particular literary merit. As for the book itself, the prose is indifferent, the ideas sparse and tiresomely repetitious.

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## Scheherazade

I agree that this book has benefited a little from the recent political importance of Afghanistan (I am not sure what is so wrong with this); however, it is, over all, a good read. 

The first half of the book gives a genuine depiction of Afghan culture and way of life before the Soviet invasion. The second half, however, seems a little over-worked; so much so that, I kind of wish that Hosseini had not written the last 50 pages or so and found another way of resolving the issues.

However, it is worth reading maybe just because it gives us a glimpse of Afghan culture because this small nation seems to be playing such an important role in world affairs today.

*8/10 KitKats!*

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## wilbur lim

This book is eminent and lofty-cited in my community library.

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## AmericanEagle

Amir was so unlikeable that it ruined the whole story for me.

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