The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is an intense tale that portrays the struggle of modern day Afghanistan in a brilliant way. The author helps the reader really engage by focusing a lot on the internal struggle of the narrator and the external struggle of his family and culture. Even though the story is about Afghanistan and its culture/struggle, Hosseini does a great job making it easy to relate. The quality of the depictions requires you to experience Afghanistan first-hand and fight for your family and salvation. The book does a good job at sharing the conflict that was and is in Afghanistan, which is the reason Hosseini wrote it.The story takes the reader through the political transition and the Russian invasion that happens in Afghanistan. Though this has a lot to do with the plot, the focus is on Amir, the narrator, and the way his family deals with the changes. Hosseini gives Amir no siblings, and a mom that passed away. His father, Baba, never seems to be proud of his son, which causes Amir to go through a lot of internal struggle. This battle Amir has to fight is the foundation of how he develops. The Kite Runner is a masterpiece that invites you into the mind of Amir and into Afghanistan, to face the troubles together. Hosseini may want the reader to understand how Afghanistan has been going through hard times, but he also spends a great deal of time expressing the importance of self-sacrifice, brotherhood, and boldness in the face of difficulties. As mentioned earlier, Amir has a pretty rough family situation, though his father is rich and talented. That may seem nice, but to Amir, it only worsens the expectations he thinks he has to live up to. The author really wants to exhibit that during hard or difficult situations, you should never forget who you are and what you stand for. In The Kite Runner, a lot mistakes are made due to a lack of identity and integrity. Hosseini gets this point across by unraveling Amir’s thought process and showing how he could have changed a lot of situations if he had been bolder and stood for what he believed in. He shows this in a passage that reads: “I envied her. Her secret was out. Dealt with…..there were many ways in which Soraya Taheri was a better person than me. Courage was just one of them.” This book introduces (to many people) the hard times that Afghanistan has had to face, while also sharing its culture and the importance of selfless brotherhood. What makes this book so well-developed and interesting is the way the reader is given Amir’s internal experience. Not only do you have the perspective of the narrator, but you also have a way of feeling the emotional, seeing the buildings and people, and even failing the way Amir fails. In one section, the narrator has an opportunity to bond with his dad, which to him is very stressful, for he does not want to fail his dad. It reads: “We’d had a fleeting good moment--it wasn’t often Baba talked to me, let alone on his lap--and I’d been a fool to waste it.” Hosseini does a fantastic job at being very descriptive of scenes and really entices the reader by giving you a taste of the emotion that Amir feels during good times and bad times. An example of the descriptive scenes is shown early in the book, and it reads: “...his almost perfectly round face, a face like a Chinese doll chiseled from hardwood: his flat, broad nose and slanting, narrow eyes like bamboo leaves....” Through his diction and elaborations, the author causes the reader to be in the same place as Amir. The reader can sympathize and understand the pain that the narrator feels while also being able to see it from the stand-point of a spectator, because most cannot empathize. This book does a splendid job of sharing a tale that you can see and feel, while tempting you with the interesting culture and life of Afghans. To me, this book was fantastic and mesmerizing. I loved the way I could relate with the narrator and learn a ton about the Afghan world. Not only did I learn about culture, but I also learned a lot

This book portrays the darkest days of the Taliban with the story of a young boy from a lower caste of society who struggles to overcome the limits of his position in society. The image of the kite flying in the skies is a haunting image (no spoiler about the kite runner from me!) as the boy grows up and tries to escape his past. Fine writing, interesting history, especially now that the Taliban is back in power.

Great book and story for a none-Afghan. However, a very narrow view of the Afghan society through the eyes of a biased and prejudice person. A very settle and methodical way of demonizing the Pashtuns in Afghanistan. Very disappointing.