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Editorial Reviews
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In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do. He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political turmoil--in this case, Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over. And he does this on his first try. The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted. Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty. In part, it is these demons and the sometimes impossible quest for forgiveness that bring him back to his war-torn native land after it comes under Taliban rule. ("...I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.") Some of the plot's turns and twists may be somewhat implausible, but Hosseini has created characters that seem so real that one almost forgets that The Kite Runner is a novel and not a memoir. At a time when Afghanistan has been thrust into the forefront of America's collective consciousness ("people sipping lattes at Starbucks were talking about the battle for Kunduz"), Hosseini offers an honest, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, but always heartfelt view of a fascinating land. Perhaps the only true flaw in this extraordinary novel is that it ends all too soon. --Gisele Toueg
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Hosseini's stunning debut novel starts as an eloquent Afghan version of the American immigrant experience in the late 20th century, but betrayal and redemption come to the forefront when the narrator, a writer, returns to his ravaged homeland to rescue the son of his childhood friend after the boy's parents are shot during the Taliban takeover in the mid '90s. Amir, the son of a well-to-do Kabul merchant, is the first-person narrator, who marries, moves to California and becomes a successful novelist. But he remains haunted by a childhood incident in which he betrayed the trust of his best friend, a Hazara boy named Hassan, who receives a brutal beating from some local bullies. After establishing himself in America, Amir learns that the Taliban have murdered Hassan and his wife, raising questions about the fate of his son, Sohrab. Spurred on by childhood guilt, Amir makes the difficult journey to Kabul, only to learn the boy has been enslaved by a former childhood bully who has become a prominent Taliban official. The price Amir must pay to recover the boy is just one of several brilliant, startling plot twists that make this book memorable both as a political chronicle and a deeply personal tale about how childhood choices affect our adult lives. The character studies alone would make this a noteworthy debut, from the portrait of the sensitive, insecure Amir to the multilayered development of his father, Baba, whose sacrifices and scandalous behavior are fully revealed only when Amir returns to Afghanistan and learns the true nature of his relationship to Hassan. Add an incisive, perceptive examination of recent Afghan history and its ramifications in both America and the Middle East, and the result is a complete work of literature that succeeds in exploring the culture of a previously obscure nation that has become a pivot point in the global politics of the new millennium.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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kite runner, last kite, green kite, blue kite, blindfolded man
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Rahim Khan, Khala Jamila, General Taheri, Khaled Hosseini, Kaka Homayoun, Khanum Taheri, General Sahib, Wazir Akbar Khan, Daoud Khan, San Francisco, Jadeh Maywand, San Jose, Land Cruiser, Ghargha Lake, Khyber Pass, Mullah Nasruddin, Raymond Andrews, Soraya Taheri, Ahmad Zahir, Cinema Park, Ghazi Stadium, Omar Faisal, Zahir Shah, John Lennon, Kabul River
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1144 of 1267 people found the following review helpful:
 Your heart will soar, June 17, 2003
The earth turns and the wind blows and sometimes some marvelous scrap of paper is blown against the fence for us to find. And once found, we become aware there are places out there that are both foreign and familiar. Funny what the wind brings.And now it brings "The Kite Runner," a beautiful novel by Afghan-American Khaled Hosseini that ranks among the best-written and provocative stories of the year so far. Hosseini's first novel -- and the first Afghan novel to be written originally in English -- "The Kite Runner" tells a heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between Amir, the son of a wealthy Afghan businessman, and Hassan, the son of his father's servant. Amir is Sunni; Hassan is Shi'a. One is born to a privileged class; the other to a loathed minority. One to a father of enormous presence; the other to a crippled man. One is a voracious reader; the other illiterate. The poor Hassan is born with a hare lip, but Amir's gaps are better hidden, deep inside. Yet Amir and Hassan live and play together, not simply as friends, but as brothers without mothers. Their intimate story traces across the expansive canvas of history, 40 years in Afghanistan's tragic evolution, like a kite under a gathering storm. The reader is blown from the last days of Kabul's monarchy -- salad days in which the boys lives' are occupied with school, welcome snows, American cowboy movies and neighborhood bullies -- into the atrocities of the Taliban, which turned the boys' green playing fields red with blood. This unusually eloquent story is also about the fragile relationship fathers and sons, humans and their gods, men and their countries. Loyalty and blood are the ties that bind their stories into one of the most lyrical, moving and unexpected books of this year. Hosseini's title refers to a traditional tournament for Afghan children in which kite-flyers compete by slicing through the strings of their opponents with their own razor-sharp, glass-encrusted strings. To be the child who wins the tournament by downing all the other kites -- and to be the "runner" who chases down the last losing kite as it flutters to earth -- is the greatest honor of all. And in that metaphor of flyer and runner, Hosseini's story soars. And fear not, gentle reader. This isn't a "foreign" book. Unlike Boris Pasternak's "Dr. Zhivago," Hosseini's narrative resonates with familiar rhythms and accessible ideas, all in prose that equals or exceeds the typical American story form. While exotic Afghan customs and Farsi words pop up occasionally, they are so well-defined for the reader that the book is enlightening and fascinating, not at all tedious. Nor is it a dialectic on Islam. Amir's beloved father, Baba, is the son of a wise judge who enjoys his whiskey, television, and the perks of capitalism. A moderate in heart and mind, Hosseini has little good to say about Islamic extremism. "The Kite Runner" is a song in a new key. Hosseini is an exhilaratingly original writer with a gift for irony and a gentle, perceptive heart. His canvas might be a place and time Americans are only beginning to understand, but he paints his art on the page, where it is intimate and poignant.
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479 of 579 people found the following review helpful:
Afghanistan, The Taliban, and Family Love, May 21, 2004
"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini is one of those marvelous books that opens up our hearts and minds. This book puts a name and face to the people we are helping to free. This is a book at once so magnificent,it is difficult to comprehend and describe. How could we be fighting for freedom in this far off land, Afghanistan, and not understand the people; their heritage, their land and what they lost?This book transports us to a very different time in the 1960's. Amir and Hassan, friends, raised in the same household, but in different worlds. Amir is the son of a wealthy businessman, and Hassan is the son of the servant, Hazara. There may be a difference in the lives they led, but they became fast friends. Amir would learn to read and Hassan would not. Amir would have the most beautiful toys and particularly kites, and Hassan would be able to help Amir play with the toys and run (fly) his kite. Amir was the spolied son, Hassan was the intelligent and intuitive servant's son. Their lives would intertwine even when separated. When the Russian army invaded, Amir and his father fled to the United States, California. Amir grew up in a different land, but with the same Afghanistan culture. He and his father became close. Amir married, went to college, all the while wondering what happened to his childhood friend, the one he betrayed. As time marched on, Amir lost his father to cancer and was summoned to Pakistan to meet with an old family friend. This turns out to be a life renewing event. Amir searches for news of his friend, Hassan. The search takes him back to Afghanistan, to an orphanage, a meeting with a member of the Taliban, a search for his lost city and culture and for a prize he will cherish, for the truth and for the life he regains. This is a gritty book, the beauty and violence of this country, Afghanistan, comes to life. The customs and food and smells of the city; the desolation of life and the loss of the country to madmen who are running it with only their imagined vulgar needs and wealth in mind that destroys a culture so varied and rich.
We can imagine we are there, and we can share in the sights, the smells, the utter disregard for human life. But we can never know what these people have lost. A book, I will cherish, so will you. prisrob
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Want to wear out the edge of your seat?, February 3, 2007
When I picked reading this book, I expected it to be a snoozer. But surely I was wrong. After the first 10 chapters I was starting to loose faith, but then all of a sudden I fell in love with the characters and had compassion for each obsticle they faced. This was a story I will never forget. It was so difficult to put down this book, and once I started I never looked back. Each tragety that takes place has you tear-eyed, or maybe even bawling. I'm not much of a reader, and this book opened my eyes to a whole new world.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Overall Fulfilling, February 1, 2007
This book's strengths ultimately outweigh it's weaknesses, although those that are there are quite obvious. As a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Kite Runner and came away feeling just a bit more humbled. The relationships between the characters are fully developed and painstakingly real.
Do not let the reviews claiming excessive cruelty/violence scare you off. The few events are brief and relatively much less detailed than many other aspects of the book (although I come from a history of reading Chuck Palahniuk and Bentley Little, and they push the limits of bearable violence in writing.). The fleeting moments of sexual abuse and violence are quite significant to the development of the story, emphasizing the dynamic of Amir and Hassan's relationship. These moments are not extended beyond their need or beyond their function to evoke emotion.
As for the less satisfying parts of the novel, they come predictably but are easily forgiven. Hosseini does tie up some plot points with coincidences that are almost unbelievable. There is a noticeable overuse of lines such as (paraphrased): "that was the last time I would see him smile" or "it was the last time I would hear him speak for a year" or "it was the last bit of solid food I would eat..." etc etc. Slightly unnecessary and incredibly annoying the fifth time around.
In the end, it is an incredible story of human spirit and behavior. Being that the author is a doctor and not a writer, I can take his errors in stride and appreciate the book for what it is meant to be. It is one of the best stories I have experienced (although I do have quite a mental list), and I would recommend it hands down.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 mediocre and poorly written fast food. , February 1, 2007
This man should first attend an english class on 'cliche' before pelting them at us so savagely - so relentlessly. I was in a constant state of painful literary paroxism. I had to read this, I was verily forced to read this for one of my fiction-writing classes, and I was thoroughly disturbed by the combination of lack luster writing (it's said to be 'spare', but more properly one would call it talentless)and high praise. The fact that it has more than its share of 'script' moments, scenes that would be more enjoyable on screen than in a book, is a testament to its indolent abuse of letters.
I read the equivalent of one modern novel every other day and with all the wonderful literature to choose from I would save my resources for something of value, perhaps a classic. This is rubbish, and that's why it's popular.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
I feel awful because I didn't like it as much as everyone else., January 31, 2007
The first 150 pages of this novel are wonderful and heartbreaking. It tells the story of two best friends, Hassan and Amir, who have known each other all of their lives but are separated by boundaries of class, caste and culture. All of this is set against the backdrop of Afghanistan before the Russian invasion and the Taliban coup.
However, what I hoped was going to be a story of a friendship torn apart because of a betrayal; further complicated by the impending horrors of the Russian invasion and the Taliban regime; and possibly healed over by "kite running" suddenly does a complete 180 and turns into an unbelievable action adventure rife with over-the-top cliches, implausible situations and not even possible coincidences. I won't even go into all of the HUGE plot holes in the second act or touch on even half the reasons why I didn't like this book. I really wanted to like it a lot. I really did. When I finished reading The Kite Runner, I came away feeling duped and a bit insulted. There is a great story lurking somewhere inside of this novel but what I read wasn't it.
This is an overhyped and overrated piece of fluff. Whereas the accolades that lauded other recent contemporary novels like Memoirs of a Geisha or The Secret Life of Bees lived up to the hype, it didn't with The Kite Runner. Three stars for the first half of the novel, zero stars for the second half and two stars overall
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