Rating: ★★★★
Khaled Hosseini’s quietly powerful debut novel The Kite Runner fulfills the promise of fiction, awakening curiosity about the world around us, speaking truth as the lessons of history echo down the years. The themes are universal: familial relationships, particularly father and son; the price of disloyalty; the inhumanity of a rigid class system; and the horrific realities of war.
- Review from Curled Up With a Good Book
(http://www.curledup.com/kiterun.htm)
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is a Khaled’s first fiction novel that embraced strong plot and theme, while clearly relating to actual war and the Afghanistan class culture. The novel is about a boy named Amir who lives in Kabul, Afghanistan. Amir is from a high social class as his father, Baba, is the member of high class in the Afghanistan society. Amir has a friend named Hassan, who is the son of Baba’s servant, Ali. Baba tends to be dissatisfied by Amir as he believes Amir isn’t manly enough and Baba also blames Amir for his mother’s death; however Baba praises Hassan. It is Baba’s friend, Rahim Khan, who seems to under Amir more than his father. Amir and Hassan hang along together peacefully through kite fighting. There is a notorious guy named Assef, who disturbs Amir and Hassan as he intimidates Hassan as member of inferior race. When Assef tries to assault Amir, Hassan helps Amir by threatening Assef with a slingshot. Assef promises revenge to Hassan on the way of retreat.
One day, Amir wins kite tournament with the help from Hassan, who is an excellent kite runner. Hassan says, “For you, a thousand times over,” representing his strong love for Amir, on the way to cut kite. While on the way, Hassan accounts Assef and his friends. As revenge, which Assef has promised previously, Assef beats and rapes Hassan. Amir sees the incident, but doesn’t do anything because he is scared. Amir feels ashamed of his action and in the other hand is afraid that his father would find out about how he didn’t help. So Amir makes Hassan leave by accusing Hassan as a thief, which Hassan falsely confesses upon. Five years after Hassan and Ali left, the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, causing Amir and Baba to leave to Fremont. Unlike Afghanistan, Amir and Baba lives poorly working at gas station. Then Amir meets Soraya and marries her with supports from Soraya’s father. Fifteen years later, Amir receives a call from Rahim Khan, asking Amir to visit Kabul. From Rahim Khan, Amir hears all the stories about Hassan. Rahim Khan tells about how Hassan is Amir’s half brother and how Hassan was murdered with his wife while trying to protect Amir’s house in Afghanistan. Rahim Khan requests Amir to rescue and take care of Hassan’s son, Sohrab. When Amir goes to Taliban-territory orphanage to save Sohrab, he hears about Sohrab taken away by Taliban. Amir goes to meet the Taliban who took Sohrab and he meets Assef. Amir also finds Sohrab dressed in women’s clothes and realizes Sohrab had been sexually assaulted by Assef and other Taliban. As Assef beats Amir, Sohrab saves Amir by shooting Assef’s left eye with a slingshot as what Hassan has said long time ago. Amir promises Sohrab that he would take Sohrab to the United States, yet the promise seems impossible due to all the complexities with documentations and war issues. Amir finally brings Sohrab to the U.S.; yet Sohrab finds it hard to adjust with Soraya. With kite flying, Amir is able to turn Sohrab’s minds with reminisce of Hassan. In the end, Amir flies a kite for Sohrab, saying “For you, thousand times over.”
I first chose the book as my mother read the Korean version of The Kite Runner and told me she liked it very much. As I always had similar taste on books with my mom, I decided to read the book. Just like I have expected, I really enjoyed reading the book. I can’t say that the book is exciting and fun all the time, but it is interesting all the time for sure. I liked how I was able to read about father & son relationship between Baba and Amir. I was able to relate my self, although not exactly the same, with Amir. I also, like Amir, always want to be praised by my father and I wouldn’t want my father to be disappointed by me. It was also interesting to read about class system of Afghanistan. I never knew that there were classes in Afghanistan; I have always thought people there were just poor, I didn’t expect a person to have a luxury mansion in Afghanistan. I was touched by Hassan’s love for Amir. Hassan’s friendship and love for Amir wouldn’t be explained by words. While I was reading, I wished I was able to have such friend. It was also extremely sad when Amir found out that Hassan was in fact his brother and had died protecting Amir’s mansion. As I like emotional stories, I really enjoyed reading the book. I’ve heard that this book was made into a film, which I am expecting to watch during the winter break. I would strongly recommend the book to my peers. I have heard the AP Literature students are reading this novel and I am very glad Mr. Prosser is able to share this wonderful book with his students.
Khaled Hosseini uses flashbacks and foreshadowing often, which allows much more realistic image of the scenes. Although The Kite Runner is a fiction novel, Khaled Hosseini’s constant use of flashbacks and foreshadowing make the novel seem like real story of Khaled Hosseini himself. In fact, almost all aspects of the novel are elaborate flashbacks of the narrator that brings narrator’s childhood, young adulthood, and manhood memories. The flashbacks are created through dialogues and narratives. The novel is told in the first person view of the narrator, Amir, as he tells about his own life. This use of point of view allows the reader to experience various feelings of Amir that he feels while telling the story. The story functions as Amir’s confession for his guilt of not helping Hassan out while being raped by Assef. Khaled Hosseini’s writing style appeals to readers’ emotion a lot. As for me, I was extremely touched by sad scenes. Over construction of his style also make his writing seem poetic, which is very interesting about his writing style. Khaled Hosseini also incorporated various themes from father & son relationship to inhumanities of war.
Picture of Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, just like Amir in The Kite Runner. He was born on 1965. Just like Baba, Khaled Hosseini’s father was in a high social class as he was the minister of the Afghan Foreign Ministry. He moved to Paris on 1976 and came back to Kabul on 1980. When he came back he witnessed horrible and bloody conditions of Afghanistan after the Soviet Union invasion on Afghanistan. Then Hosseini and his family moved to San Jose, California. Khaled Hosseini graduated from Santa Clara University on 1988 and the University of California – San Diego on 1993. As he has earned Medical degree from the University of California – San Diego, Hosseini practice internist until 2004. During his internist practice, Hosseini wrote his first novel, The Kite Runner on 2002. As The Kite Runner became international bestseller around 48 countries, Hosseini was named goodwill envoy to the United Nations Refugee Aency on 2006. Then in 2007, Hosseini published A Thousand Splendid Suns. To learn more about Khaled Hosseini as an author, visit Khaled Hosseini’s official site.
The Kite Runner
Michael Park [Period 8]
