The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

book data

161,071 ratings, 4.21 average rating, 21,544 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		46%
4		34%
3		12%
2		3%
1		1%

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published

April 27th 2004 (first published 2003) by Riverhead Trade

binding

Paperback, 372 pages

characters

Amir, Hassan, Assef

setting

Afghanistan

literary awards

South African Boeke Prize, Humanitarian Award by UNHCR (2006)

isbn

1594480001 (isbn13: 9781594480003)

description

In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do. He manages to provide an educat...more

[close] 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

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05/21/07

Chris rated it:

bookshelves: unfinished

Read in January, 2008

recommended to Chris by: Everyone
recommends it for: Monkeys

I became what I am today at the age of twenty-nine, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 2008.

What I am about to tell you about what I became is going to be very shocking. It is going to manipulate your emotions. It may include some random words in my native language for no reason whatsoever. It will teach you unnecessary things about my culture. It will not be smarter than a fifth grader. And it will include as many cliches and as much foreshadowing as is humanly possibl...more I became what I am today at the age of twenty-nine, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 2008.

What I am about to tell you about what I became is going to be very shocking. It is going to manipulate your emotions. It may include some random words in my native language for no reason whatsoever. It will teach you unnecessary things about my culture. It will not be smarter than a fifth grader. And it will include as many cliches and as much foreshadowing as is humanly possible.

You are going to be shocked. I, for one, never saw it coming. So I doubt you will. Get ready. Aren't you so ready to be shocked? You're never going to see this coming.

What comes next is the big revelation, so get ready!

Wait, I need to ask you something first. Did you know that the Irish like potatoes? Yeah, we really enjoy it. And alcohol too. It's pretty great. Erin Go Bragh! This means Ireland Forever! Unfortunately, you will be very sad to know that my father just died due to an Irish car bomb. Well, about 15 of them to be exact. All on an empty stomach! It makes me sad and you should feel sad too, kind reader.

Ok, on to the big reveal. Here it is:

On that frigid overcast day, which happened to be the day that I decided to quit reading The Kite Runner, I became a book snob.

Because The Kite Runner is adored by most people who read it, I am forced to conclude that most people need to read more. A whole lot more. You should be embarrassed if you like this book. Seriously. The moment I became a book snob (shortly after "The Scene"), I became so embarrassed to be seen reading it that I accused the guy sitting next to me on the subway of putting the book on my lap while I wasn't paying attention. "How dare you, sir? Have you no decency?" I exclaimed excitedly in my native language. Then I noticed a monkey on the platform waiting to board a train. I quickly hopped off my train, ran to him, handed him the book, and said "Top O' the Mornin' to ya! Enjoy!"

Later that day, I saw that monkey flying a kite in front of the Washington Monument. I noticed that the glass string wasn't making his hands bloody. Do you know why? He was wearing gloves. (less)

Like this review? yes (127 people liked it)

34 comments

11/10/07

Linda rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: Can't really recommend it, I'm sorry.

Finished this book about a month ago but it's taken me this long to write a review about it because I have such mixed feelings about it. It was a deeply affecting novel, but mostly not in a good way. I really wanted to like it, but the more I think about what I didn't like about the book, the more it bothers me. I even downgraded this review from two stars to one from the time I started writing it to the time I finished.

Let's start off with the good, shall we? The writing itself was...more

Like this review? yes (83 people liked it)

26 comments

11/12/07

Britta rated it:

Read in February, 2006

"For you, a thousand times over."

"Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors."

"...attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun."

"But even when he wasn't around, he was."

"When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal a wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you ch...more

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01/14/08

Matt rated it:

recommends it for: people who slurp up 'chicken soup for the soul' books

i really wanted to like this novel. judging from its thousands of 'five-star reviews' hailing it as the one of the 'best books ever written,' i'm in the minority when i state that this novel, while well-intentioned, just left a little bit of sour taste in my mouth.

my problems with the novel are as follows: first of all the writing itself is so ham-fistened, heavy-handed, distracting and otherwise puzzling that by the midway point, i seriously considered chucking the book against the...more i really wanted to like this novel. judging from its thousands of 'five-star reviews' hailing it as the one of the 'best books ever written,' i'm in the minority when i state that this novel, while well-intentioned, just left a little bit of sour taste in my mouth.

my problems with the novel are as follows: first of all the writing itself is so ham-fistened, heavy-handed, distracting and otherwise puzzling that by the midway point, i seriously considered chucking the book against the wall. each page of the novel has at least 5-10 incomplete sentences. i'm all for experimental and fractered prose--but it's important for authors to use it judiciously. hosseini, unfortunately, beats it to death. a lot of his language is cliched, too, which is funny considering there's a passage in the book about a writing teacher who warns the narrator, amir, about using cliches. i don't know if that was supposed to be funny or not, but it made me laugh (and what was worse was the san francisco's chronicle's glowing review on the book's cover and the san francisco chronicle's glowing review of amir's novel--coincidence?).

the author's use of farsi--especially in the dialogue--was equally distracting. my point is that no one speaks the way his characters speak. people don't switch back and forth between languages while speaking, and if they do, they certainly don't speak 1/2 the sentence in english, say one word in farsi, then traslate the farsi word to english, then finish the sentence in english, when they're presumably speaking farsi to begin with. i didn't pick up this book for a crash course in colloquial farsi. after 370 pages, i was frustrated--and annoyed.

hosseini's plot often borders on the ridiculous. the'twists' are just TOO coincidental--and not surprising at all (except in how contrived they are). for example, in a devasted kabul, amir sees a homeless man in the street. the homeless man, of course, was a former university professor who just happened to teach with amir's long deceased mother. what a coincidence! what makes it worse, is that the narrator, amir then explains that while that may, in fact, seem like a coincidence, it happens in afghanistan happens all the time. of course it does. in another example, amir's former nemesis, assaf (now a taliban crony), beats up amir and amir ends up with a scar above his lip, just like his dear friend hassan, who was born with cleft-pallet. oh, the coincidence! (and the fact that amir even runs into assef again is ridiculous). another example: amir and his wife aren't able to have children, and of course they find an orphan boy who happens to be extended family and they adopt him. what a coincidence! and after amir returns to afghanistan he doesn't call home to his dutiful wife for over a month. i kept wondering 'when's he gonna call home?' and any plot advanced by a series of 'tragedies,' (and in this book they are legion) shows little more than the writer's inability to craft a meaningful and interesting plot. not only is it pretty poor form, it's also highly manipulative and condescending. i found myself continually frustrated by hosseini's apparent distrust of the reader. we don't have to be told how and when to interpret metaphors. and if i read one more book where the protagonist is a writer or professor, i'm gonna ram my head into a metal post.

i don't want to sound like a misanthrope or jaded literature reader because i'm certainly not. this novel just left me wanting so much more in terms of plot and characterization. having said that, however, the novel could be important in that shows the cruelty of the taliban. much of what hosseini writes about is important, especially for us westerners unfamiliar with the breadth and scope of the afghani tragedy.

in the end, it was worth the $2.00 i paid for it.(less)

Like this review? yes (40 people liked it)

32 comments

07/24/07

Naeem rated it:

recommends it for: anyone wanting to keep their blinders on

I found this book a failure of courage and imagination -- all the more upsetting for the author's astute sense of detail and wonderful psychological depth. But ask yourself this: if the Taliban are real human than why are they not represented as such? No doubt we will all love the movie as well.

If you want to read a book on Afghanistan, I recommend Jason Elliot's An Unexpected Light.

Below is my complete review:

I started out loving this book. Hosseini is de...more

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05/13/08

Jackie Gill rated it:

bookshelves: just-read

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Jackie by: Masses of "Simple People"
recommends it for: "Simple People"

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I must admit that although I had heard plenty of people mention The Kite Runner, I hadn’t actually paid much attention to what was said about it other than, “It was wonderful!”

So, a few days ago and several years after the book came out, I heard a couple of people discussing the “wonderful” book I decided to read it.

The first day, I read about a third of the novel (Hassan is raped, Amir feels bad, well sort of, he feels bad that Hassan is raped yes, but even w...more I must admit that although I had heard plenty of people mention The Kite Runner, I hadn’t actually paid much attention to what was said about it other than, “It was wonderful!”

So, a few days ago and several years after the book came out, I heard a couple of people discussing the “wonderful” book I decided to read it.

The first day, I read about a third of the novel (Hassan is raped, Amir feels bad, well sort of, he feels bad that Hassan is raped yes, but even worse because Hassan’s rape makes him feel bad and, of course, this means he needs to act badly and do bad things, and make more bad stuff happen to Hassan who is not bad at all.) And, I will admit that this portion of the book had me reading as quickly as I could. I flipped from one page to the next, skimmed over the plethora of annoyances, oops, I mean I skimmed over the Farsi vocab sprinkled evenly throughout to, of course, add authenticity and give it that multicultural feel that is sure to make every publisher drool over a manuscript, and I was even forgiving of the somewhat poor writing. Yes, on day one, I liked The Kite Runner. I was into The Kite Runner. And when I decided to continue my read the next day – I had high hopes!

The second day, I read to the point where Amir gets a phone call from a man he has not seen in years, abandons his “perfect life” in America (well, almost perfect, there is the infertility and the gap that his wife’s uterus is forming between them, but their sex life is still good – sometimes… WHAT!? Never mind…) so, anyway, Amir hops on a plane to Afghanistan which is being ruled by the Taliban, yet he enters without issue, and follows the yellow brick road and lands at OZ where it turns out that the man behind the glasses is not John Lennon at all – he is Assef – his childhood nemesis, pedophile, and just plain evil guy (and you know he is evil cause he likes Hitler – although he has never heard of ethic cleansing). So, Amir walks right into the Taliban compound and asks to see the wizard, I mean their leader, and is allowed to do so (actually it was more difficult for Dorothy to get in to see the wizard, she should have taken Amir with her) and when he gets in, we find out that Hassan’s son is made to dress like a monkey - GET IT A MONKEY – ya know like the monkey that Amir and Hassan would go see (too bad it wasn’t a flying monkey) – and provide entertainment for the Taliban, and provide sexual services for Assef – the same guy that had sex with Hassan and, now the obviously simple minded reader that Hosseini wrote for, says, “that is so weird the way that all happened, wow, I cant believe the way this is all coming together, this is sooooooo fascinating!” Oh, and for the thinking reader with any literary competence who MAY think that this is too much of a coincidence, don’t be so critical; this issue was already addressed when Amir ran into a beggar that happened to have taught with (and remembered doing so) Amir’s mother. We, the readers, are clearly TOLD that coincidence is VERY common in Afghanistan. Therefore, if the rest of the story seems too contrived, don’t worry, it is realistic for Afghanistan. So, don’t question it, cause he is the expert on Afghanistan and you (the reader) are not, therefore, just accept that this completely ridiculous, unrealistic, obviously contrived series of events, are very realistic in Afghanistan!

My third day of reading, I completed the book and instead of placing my hand over my heart, smiling, and thinking about how wonderful the book was, how beautiful the story was, and how it all came so nicely together in the end (apparently the reaction of the masses), I was mad. I was mad because there are so many people out there who think a book this ridiculous and obvious is brilliant. I was mad because this is precisely what is wrong with some multicultural literature and what gives multicultural literature a bad name. There are many pieces out there which are actually beautifully written, provide valuable insight into other cultures, and entertain the reader (i.e. Reading Lolita in Tehran), however, it does nothing for multicultural literature to publish pieces that are poorly written and filled with cliché. I can forgive (to a certain extent) poorer writing when the story is written as a true account and when the purpose of the novel to re-tell actual events. However, when an author decides he is going to write a piece of fiction, his style, diction, and storyline come into question. The final portion of the novel continues throwing out one cliché after another, and throws out one ridiculous coincidence after another. Just the fact that a good portion of the middle of the book was dedicated to pounding it into the readers head that Amir and Soraya could not have children and did not want to adopt, well, that is unless the bloodline is known, is enough to clue the reader in that they will adopt Sohrab waaaay before Amir even knows that he will adopt Sohrab. What a coincidence that Hassan just happened to be his half brother, happened to have a son, and the son happened to have been taken by Assef. And it was even more convenient that even from the grave, once again, Hassan could save Amir. He could provide him with a son and the opportunity to finally fight the big bully who STILL carried his brass knuckles. And more convenient yet, the fact that Sohrab always carried that slingshot (And in case we forgot that he always carried it, Amir remembered for us, as if Hosseini wants to say: see readers how clever I am, I set it up that Sohrab always had the slingshot, and now later in the story, it comes back out. See how clever I am readers, everything in my story has a purpose and is connected). However, what Hosseini needed to do is explain how a kid who has been taken from an orphanage, made to dress and entertain like a monkey, lives with the Taliban, and is a sex slave for the Big Bad Assef, still managed to keep his slingshot – the very weapon used against Assef in the past, and the very weapon that Assef has an issue with! Just how dumb must a reader be to believe that the freakin Taliban NEVER NOTICED!? So, okay, Sohrab saves Amir, they escape and the Taliban does nothing, and then another freaking coincidence – Amir will end up with a scar. And in case the reader does not deduce that Amir will have a scar from his busted lip, the doctor points it out and confirms it. Yes, reader, a scar like Hassan’s – get it? It’s connected – get it?

Truth be told, there are so many unbelievable incidents and ridiculous coincidences presented to us in this book that it would take pages to go through them all because they were present from beginning to end: The young Russian soldier who doesn’t shoot Baba and the older Russian soldier who apologizes for him and talks about the young soldiers – YEAH RIGHT! The fact that Amir is an author who is published right away and cranks out novel after novel with great success – YEAH RIGHT! Baba dies of lung cancer and then Rahim Khan seems to have to same issue – does Hosseini think all people who die of natural causes die of lung issues? Raymond Andrews who has a bad attitude because his kid committed suicide, and then the receptionist actually tells Amir that this happened – the way this came out seemed completely fake and contrived because – IT WOULDN’T HAPPEN! Then, of course, Sohrab tries to kill himself, so now we know why Andrews kid had to commit suicide – we needed one more obvious instance of foreshadowing. It is also a little odd how often Amir throws out how he knows about medicine because he is a writer – WHAT? I didn’t know I needed to seek out an author when I was sick. And so on and so on…

But one final point that I would like to make is that as soon as Amir picked up a kite it seemed that, much like Jesus, his hands began to bleed; therefore, I am left to wonder: why didn’t Amir know about the invent of gloves? Perhaps that is the biggest tragedy of it all.

By the way, I am still giving the novel two stars because there is an interesting story in there, and the glimpse into Afghanistan is valuable. It is just that the author did such a poor job of presenting the story that it actually detracts from the positive aspects of the book and makes the validity of his glimpse into Afghanistan quite questionable. Therefore, my two stars are for the possibilities that could have been if it had been written by a talented author.
(less)

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05/29/07

Linda rated it:

bookshelves: favorites

Read in May, 2007

So I started Kite Runner two nights ago after finishing Blink. It took me a week or so with Blink since I wasn’t very enthralled, making it easier to put it down at night when it was my bed time.

Kite Runner, I started over a long weekend and could not for the life of me put it down. I was so hooked I even found myself reading Bing’s copy when I was over at Deesh and Bing’s this weekend playing an invigorating (and might I add victorious) game of girls vs. boys Cranium and then ...more

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05/02/07

Ravi rated it:

(review of isbn 0747566534)

Read in February, 2007

recommends it for: Masochists

In the wake of the Fraud of Small Things, tons of Asian writers with their impossibly exotic backgrounds and compellingly interesting lives have become all the rage in the publishing world. And of course, it doesn't get more exotic than Afghanistan these days. Khalid Hosseini rides the wave for what its worth churning out a predictable piece of semi-literate garbage — the sort that will appeal only to fellow Afghani nostalgia hounds — the small proportion of whom believe books are better rea...more In the wake of the Fraud of Small Things, tons of Asian writers with their impossibly exotic backgrounds and compellingly interesting lives have become all the rage in the publishing world. And of course, it doesn't get more exotic than Afghanistan these days. Khalid Hosseini rides the wave for what its worth churning out a predictable piece of semi-literate garbage — the sort that will appeal only to fellow Afghani nostalgia hounds — the small proportion of whom believe books are better read than burnt — and to the sort of snobs who love regurgitating knowledge picked up second hand from books like this one to show how clued into the world they are.

The story remains at least reasonably interesting as long as its located in Afghanistan; but these thinly disguised memoirs of boyhood are a banal cliche of writing; it's only very exceptional ones like Swami & Friends and to a lesser extent Black Swan Green by David Mitchell which have any emotional impact.

The book quickly slides into ultra tedium speaking about the sad lives of the once aristocratic Afghanis exiled in America when the Soviets took over their country. And then becomes this 'exotic Afghanistan' guidebook with reams of boring detail about Afghani culture, propriety and mating rituals. I skimmed through this barely reading four lines on every page.

Our unloveable hero then returns, to reconnect with his best buddy from childhood who he insulted and vilified for some obtuse emo reason, only to find that the guy is
a) his step-brother
b)dead

tangles with the Taliban, and in a mondo improbable coincidence, meets and gets his ass-whupped by a rabidly homosexual childhood enemy. Who incidentally raped his step brother. And his step brother's son...and oh god, what's the fucking point?

You might ask why I persisted with a book I was deriving no joy out of. It wasn't because it was a compulsively readable bad book - but since I was stuck in a hotel room with an unusually severe case of insomnia, brought on, no doubt, by the dozens of cups of coffee i consumed in the course of work-related meetings through the day. Most of the other books I had were actually interesting and I figured I'd have a greater chance of crashing out while reading something that was tiresome and boring. (less)

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05/11/08

La Petite added it

bookshelves: middle_east, sucked

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: Morons Who Enjoy This Kind of Crap

After pondering long and hard, I'm going to try now to articulate just what it was about this book that sucked so much, why it has offended me so greatly, and why its popularity has enraged me even more. This book blew so much that I've been inspired to start my own website of book reviews for non-morons. So let us explore why.

First, let's deal with the writer himself. Hosseini's father worked for Western companies while in Afghasnistan. While daddy (who I am guessing, from Hosseini...more

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01/13/08

Mystique rated it:

Read in February, 2008

recommended to Mystique by: Melissa Coworker

I have some criticisms for this book, but because I chewed through it in such a short amount of time, I'll start with what I like and move to the criticisms.

I did NOT want to like this book. I am one of those annoying people who wants to dislike what everyone else likes, and wants to like what everyone else dislikes. Usually, this works out for me without effort, however; in the world of literature there are occasions that it does not. This was one of those occasions.

The ...more I have some criticisms for this book, but because I chewed through it in such a short amount of time, I'll start with what I like and move to the criticisms.

I did NOT want to like this book. I am one of those annoying people who wants to dislike what everyone else likes, and wants to like what everyone else dislikes. Usually, this works out for me without effort, however; in the world of literature there are occasions that it does not. This was one of those occasions.

The book was brutally heartbreaking, but redemptive. Relationships were richly developed, emotions piqued and dropped - hallmarks of a good story.

One of my favorite things in literature is learning. If I learn from a book, I consider it valuable. Bite-sized foreign languages lessons will bolster a book's merit. This author taught me about the history, language, and geography of Afghanistan, and about the sport/hobby of kite flying/kite running. I've always thought that a person just bought a kite and flew it. I've never heard of coating the string in cut glass to cut down other kites.

The book has numerous other redeeming qualities that are likely to make it a classic read, but it does have some flaws. One thing that just kept annoying me toward the end of the book was the names of John/Thomas and Betty Caldwell. The first time they're mentioned, they're Thomas and Betty Caldwell. The next time, they're John and Betty Caldwell. WELL? Which are they?? Where was the editor on this one? No, it didn't affect the story, and it shouldn't affect me, but it did. I kept finding my thoughts drifting. Because they were never real characters, did the editor/author not find them integral to the plot? Did they have the same issues with Thomases and Johns that I have with Kamals and Kamirs? Perhaps they're unfamiliar with the names, and so it was easy to make the mistake? I admit, I was plagued. I thought about removing a star for it, but we only have 5 stars with which to work, so I didn't.

The next flaw is perhaps in my own ignorance, but I can't imagine Assef being in the Taliban. The tale describes him as blonde and blue-eyed. I don't imagine him being part of a hate-group that targets Americans as infidels if he so closely resembles one, but I have also heard that there are blonde and blue-eyed Afghans, so perhaps this is my own ignorance shining through. I have Afghan friends, but none of them has blonde hair, or blue eyes. Further, Assef is absolute evil from an age at which I'm not convinced that any child has such a developed sense of hatred, especially when we consider that, upon meeting his parents, we find them timid. Again, this could be my own ignorance of children outside of my own culture, but it's a bit tough to swallow. I didn't find it too difficult to suspend my belief, but there wasn't too much else in the tale that required such suspension.

Overall, the book has all of the ingredients needed to create a great tale - whether or not it required some belief-suspension and some editorial errors. When I complete a book in one sitting, I cannot convince myself that I didn't enjoy it. I must be true to the obvious and give it 5-stars.(less)

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10/02/07

Msmeemee rated it:

bookshelves: classic-lit

recommends it for: tear-jerking saps

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

so, it starts off strong. it almost feels like a biography, that's how real it felt to me. i actually looked on the back of the cover to see if it was based on a true story or something.

one thing i noticed off the bat was hosseini's style of writing. it was an extremely easy read. i wasn't sure if this was so it would be accessible to a wider audience or so we could concentrate more on the story rather than the prose or what. what's ironic is that the na...more SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

so, it starts off strong. it almost feels like a biography, that's how real it felt to me. i actually looked on the back of the cover to see if it was based on a true story or something.

one thing i noticed off the bat was hosseini's style of writing. it was an extremely easy read. i wasn't sure if this was so it would be accessible to a wider audience or so we could concentrate more on the story rather than the prose or what. what's ironic is that the narrator and protagonist is supposed to be a gifted writer. anyway, the writing wasn't the book's strongest point. honestly, the author of the inner elvis had much better descriptive writing.

however, his simplistic writing style didn't take away from the emotions triggered in the story. i was practically bawling at every emotional scene. i have to say, though, that the rape scene, which is the first dramatic scene in the novel, was the best one. i know that sounds horrible, but it's timing and significance was on point.

and that's where things kinda went downhill for me. even though i was caught up in the story, things became really cliche. amir and hassan are the two protagonists in the story. amir is the son of baba, a wealthy and admired male widower while hassan is the hare-lipped hazara, people who are regarded as scum of the earth according to afghani history. anyway, hassan and his father, ali, are servants for baba and amir, but they are viewed as family. it's a refreshing departure from what could easily be a cinderlla-type plot.

anyway, amir is this really smart, well-educated pansy who can't stand up for himself for shit and hassan always backs him up, even taking on 3 guys on his own. there's a little rivalry between the two boys, with amir constantly testing hassan's loyalty and scoffing at him for seeming to be such a sucker. but when shit turns serious, amir doesn't return the sentiment.

the year that amir won a kite flying competition, hassan takes off for the last kite and ends up being cornered by child-sociopath, assef, and his cronies. when hassan refuses to give up the fallen kite, assef rapes him in an alley and amir watches the whole thing from a hiding place because he's too afraid to jump in and protect his friend.

as i kept reading, cliches and implausible coincidences start popping up everywhere. it turns out that amir and hassan are half-brothers. (i think i saw that plot-twist in days of our lives once.) when amir goes back to afghanistan to save hassan's now-orphan son, that son is held captive by --guess who?-- none other than assef who has become part of the taliban. the novel climaxes with assef kicking amir's ass. and who saves amir? hassan's son! with a fucking slingshot! (hassan was skilled at that, too.) amir gets reconstructive surgery and ends up with a scar down his lip like hassan had when he had surgery for his hare-lip. good lord. then there was this brief encounter where amir comes across an old homeless guy who just happened to know amir's mother before she died giving birth to amir. how would that ever happen?

to be fair, it had a really good storyline. i still maintain that the first third was well executed. the beginning of the book stands its ground well, but that may have just made the rest of the book pale in comparison even more so. it almost felt like the author was desperately reaching for the audience's acceptance (it's his first novel). or he hurried through the rest of the book and needed to increase the tear-jerker factor exponentially by making me cry at every page to cover up the fact that he was running out of quality ideas. on a positive note, it might add more depth to an already mysterious and often feared culture in light of 9/11.

but when all is said and done, it's still an interesting read.

final word on the kite runner: i can't wait for the movie adaptation. hollywood would eat that shit up.
(less)

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06/05/07

Michael rated it:

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: recyclers

I had serious issues with this book. There might be spoilers below, if you're super-picky. But I'm not going to tell you about how Amir is actually, unbeknownst to the reader, the ghost of the patron saint of Afghanistan the whole time, or anything. Oh, damn.

I hated the narrator's guts nearly immediately, and only partially got over that over the course of the novel. I'm fine with narrators I dislike--I LOVE Notes from the Underground, and that guy's the king of skeezes--but only if ...more I had serious issues with this book. There might be spoilers below, if you're super-picky. But I'm not going to tell you about how Amir is actually, unbeknownst to the reader, the ghost of the patron saint of Afghanistan the whole time, or anything. Oh, damn.

I hated the narrator's guts nearly immediately, and only partially got over that over the course of the novel. I'm fine with narrators I dislike--I LOVE Notes from the Underground, and that guy's the king of skeezes--but only if their voices are interesting enough to counterbalance whatever it is about them I despise.

My problem with Amir is that for the boyhood section of the book, he's weak, cowardly, cruel, and dull. He's unapologetic about his really ugly personality, but he also completely fails to take any responsibility for himself. It seemed at times like he was boring himself with his own pettiness. If you're going to be an unpleasant person, I guess, at least take some pride in it. Enjoy your moral decrepitude. Own it. Amir cringes nonstop.

Then there were the gratuitous Farsi vocab lessons. No one speaks the way Amir does, first in his native language, then translating for the invisible audience who only knows English. The author used language as a bland condiment instead of allowing for the slightest bit of mystery--part of the book's appeal is that it's about a place and groups of people about which we're woefully ignorant, but I thought allowing for that instead of belaboring every exchange between two Afghani men with explanations for the clueless Americans might have made it a stronger book. I'm OK using context clues once in a while, or wondering what nang and namoos are, besides silly words when I take them out of context.

I don't have any complaints about the very moving and human drama that unfolds when Amir goes back to Afghanistan. The story kept me curious enough to keep reading through to the end even when the characters had exasperated me. The parallelism was so heavy-handed, though (GET IT??? His lip was SPLIT IN TWO! That's somehow FAMILIAR!) And I did think Amir managed finally to redeem himself, which is good, because I would have felt a Da Vinci Code sense of betrayal had he not, then thrown the book at the nearest wall.

I'm looking forward to the movie. I hadn't realized the same director as Finding Neverland and Stranger Than Fiction was doing it, and I like his work.(less)

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05/24/08

Roos rated it:

bookshelves: booker, furious

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Roos by: my friends
recommends it for: everyone

Speechless when I'm finished this book...
Cried when read Hassan's letters to Amir
Adored what Hassan and Baba did to Amir
Excited during my journey to Kabul
Confused when I want to make a review

Hoalah....

Buku ini bikin aku nangis tengah malam, bikin aku bangun kesiangan, bikin mataku bengkak pagi-pagi, bikin gak konsen saat kerja...dan bikin aku bingung mau ngereview apa...dah menguras airmata, menguras emosi dan menguras konsentrasi...karena begitu m...more

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50 comments

09/18/07

Jamie rated it:

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: everyone. in. the. world.

Oakland Airport. Finished my last book...what more can I say?

Okay, well I feel like a real jackass because I was, honestly, feeling pretty stupid reading this, hence the disclaimer above. It's like when I took the cover off the Da Vinci Code so nobody would know I was really reading it...but, um, holy cow this book was amazing. I was truly never bored, never skipped a passage, hung on every word, loved every character. I cried, really and truly cried during some of the sadder p...more Oakland Airport. Finished my last book...what more can I say?

Okay, well I feel like a real jackass because I was, honestly, feeling pretty stupid reading this, hence the disclaimer above. It's like when I took the cover off the Da Vinci Code so nobody would know I was really reading it...but, um, holy cow this book was amazing. I was truly never bored, never skipped a passage, hung on every word, loved every character. I cried, really and truly cried during some of the sadder parts (no spoilers--although it was interesting to find Afgans care about the endings of things and there's no such thing as a "spoiler.")
I knew nothing of this culture, which is probably sad, but I think I've taken great care to avoid it--I don't watch the news or anything, and I suppose it would be pretty absurd of me to think I've come to grips with the entire middle Eastern situation via a best seller (that's precisely why I hated people's thoughts on The Da Vinci Code--it made people who hadn't read a book in years suddenly want to talk about books, which should be a good thing but the book snob in me felt really offended by this, especially since there are other books, better books on the same subject matter--that book was really fun, I admit it, but seriously, it SUCKED all in all, let's be honest, it was sad to read, like if you had to hear some one with broken English recite The Lady of Shallot or something), but, I digress--anyway, it's just, for me, this was at least a bit enlightening (and I promise I'm not going to start soapboxing at coffee shops and thinking I'm an authority on Afgan culture now), and just...a fantastic read.
This was a flawless bit of story telling combined with a really helpful look into a culture that's very much in the public-eye and kind of reassuring, really human sort of approach to providing some insight into a culture I knew nothing about and didn't really intend to research. Now I know I will--this book was a stepping stone and at least got me interested and that's exactly why I love reading and books, because this is what education SHOULD be, you know? You get a taste and then you get running...KITE running....ha ha.
Okay, enough, but this book was amazing. I've never wanted to hug a child more than when I read this book. I NEED TO hug a child.(less)

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08/15/07

Wade rated it:

Read in August, 2007

i had a little bit of a hard time getting into this book at first. i'm picky about characterization and overly sensitive to indulgent description. at first, i found the characters too one-dimensional. Baba never seemed to confront a situation that was morally complicated -- he never actually -wrestled- with bears. similarly, none of the other characters had must wrestling -- only broadly-painted blocks of emotional themes.
like most people [i think] i was sympathetic to Amir's thoughts and ...more i had a little bit of a hard time getting into this book at first. i'm picky about characterization and overly sensitive to indulgent description. at first, i found the characters too one-dimensional. Baba never seemed to confront a situation that was morally complicated -- he never actually -wrestled- with bears. similarly, none of the other characters had must wrestling -- only broadly-painted blocks of emotional themes.
like most people [i think] i was sympathetic to Amir's thoughts and reactions, but eventually i found him annoying -- pushed too far into caricature by the theme of his childhood. it was hard for me to put up with his dramatic descriptions of Soraya.
but in the end (where i've read a number of reviews that claim it resorts to fable) i liked it again. it still paints too easy a picture of the good guys and bad ones, but it complicates things. i liked the fable-like quality, as if Hosseini was hitting his groove in storytelling, where the hero gets to wrestle honestly--not just fail or succeed as a matter of trope.
i kept wondering how Hosseini felt about Amir. there seemed to be false notes in the early descriptions of his childhood, as if he was trying too hard to set up the lessons Amir would learn later.
i also found Assef to be a fascinating character -- clearly stating Hosseini's perspective on the nature of the Taliban. still quite broadly painted, but i think i have to believe on some level that people who are committing atrocities like this are using religion and politics to play out their cruel impulses.
i think part of the book's success was explaining Amir's reactions in a way that i suspect most people (most US readers) would understand. i think Amir and Hassan's relationship provides an good description about some of the dynamics of power and privilege. Amir sees Hassan as exotically good, "salt of the earth," and therefore better than him. he reacts with minor cruelty yet expects devotion. he feels guilt but can let it pass. he can (as Farid accuses later) always leave and go back to his walled mansion (literally or figuratively).
Hosseini seems to be at his best when (like Jhumpa Lahiri?) he's dealing with the complex yankings of modernism and tradition in national/cultural communities in the US. i'm looking forward to reading A Thousand Splendid Suns because there are (hopefully) real -women- in that one. i found it a little difficult to read all the absences of real women. the theme of the dead mother written in Amir's perspective, i guess, and a symptom of a few of the broad thematic sweeps that don't get complicated.

wow, that's a long review. if you read it, sorry for wasting so much of your time.(less)

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07/21/08

Hasanuddin rated it:

bookshelves: fiksi

Read in July, 2008

Terlalu berat peristiwa yang dialami oleh Hassan dan Amir pada usianya yang masih dini. Peristiwa yang membawa kisah persahabatan pada kenangan buruk di masa berikutnya. Terlalu berat bagi anak-anak seusia Amir untuk menjelaskan dan membuat keputusan ditengah doktrin Baba --sang ayah-- yang menekankan kehormatan dan kebanggaan. Permasalahan yang terlalu kompleks bagi Hassan saat diposisi sebagai pelayan...

Dan bagi Hassan, sungguh suatu sikap yang teguh dan tangguh karena tidak terser...more

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02/18/08

Cristina rated it:

Read in February, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

At first I really enjoyed the book. I had heard so much about it that finally I decided to start reading it. I always enjoy books which touch on childhood subjects. I believe our childhoods shape us to be who we become as grown ups. I believer the happy, sad and difficult moments lead us to our adult personalities. However, I was surprised when Amir didn't learn from his mistakes. Yes, his father was not the most loving and warm father around, but our parents are prone to fuck us up. There is no...more At first I really enjoyed the book. I had heard so much about it that finally I decided to start reading it. I always enjoy books which touch on childhood subjects. I believe our childhoods shape us to be who we become as grown ups. I believer the happy, sad and difficult moments lead us to our adult personalities. However, I was surprised when Amir didn't learn from his mistakes. Yes, his father was not the most loving and warm father around, but our parents are prone to fuck us up. There is no such thing or concept as a good parent; there are parents and bad parents, that's it. Amir's dad was not as loving as a parent should be. Amir had a roof over his head, was able to attend school and enjoy hot meals. While his half brother Hassan lived in a hut and was prejudiced against for being a Hazara. Although Hassan and Amir were best friends, this friendship made Amir feel insecure. Amir was aware that Hassan was a better person than him. Amir kneew that Hassan was loyal to him no matter what. He still tested this loyalty a few times which was unnecessary. Hassan was still there for him. On the day Assef raped Hassan and Amir watched, Hassan still brought the kite back for Amir. Amir watched as Assef raped his best friend and did nothing. This I understand somewhat. He was young, he was scared and who knows what Assef would have done to him had Amir come out in defense of Hassan. But to treat Hassan like crap because of the guilt he felt? That was ridiculous, good thing he couldn't sleep. Why didn't Amir tell his dad about it? They had a better relationship then. It was because Amir wanted his Baba all to himself. He knew that if he shared what he had seen his father would have gone back to ignoring him. Wouldn't anyone rather be ignored than let an asshole like Assef get away with rape? He would have been a better human being if he had sacrificed something, anything for Hassan. Hassan had saved his ass when Assef was ready to punch him with his metal knuckles. Assef should have punched Amir and broken his nose. Hassan goes into depression and when he decides to come out and play with Amir, Amir is an asshole to him. He is selfish and weak. Of course Hassan is the bigger person who constantly tries to find out what he has done wrong. Poor kid, living in a hut with his dad, serving his asshole friend Amir while Amir gives him the cold shoulder. Amir never deserved a friend like Hassan.
When Rahim Khan asks Amir to fetch Hassan's boy from the orophanage he hesitates. No, he doesn't hesitate he says NO right away. Anyone would think that this now thirty-eight year old man would have learned from his childhood mistakes. No, all he is thinking about is his comfortable life in the United States and of his wife. Asshole. He should have jumped at the opportunity of saving Sohrab. Again for selfish reasons it takes him a tantrum to decide to go looking for Sohrab. Although Assef is cruel and meant to be the villain of this novel, he at least is honest of who he is. Unlike Amir, who goes on defending his friend when it is easy, but tunrs his back on him when Hassan most needed him. Amir deserves to be punched in the face and loose his teeth and even more. That's as far as I've gotten. I hope Amir has the balls to save the boy.
I guess Amir is my least favorite protagonist of a novel.(less)

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09/27/07

Shannon rated it:

bookshelves: 2007, book-club, fiction

Read in March, 2007

This is a largely uncritical review, but I found it to be a beautiful, haunting, powerful tale. The Kite Runner is about a young boy, Amir, growing up in a wealthy part of Kabul, Afghanistan, the only son of a popular entrepenuer, who betrays his best friend and later has a chance to redeem himself. As his father's best friend, Kahim, says, "There's a way to be good again."

Amir grows up with Hassan, the Hazara servant boy whose father, Ali, grew up with Amir's father. Hass...more This is a largely uncritical review, but I found it to be a beautiful, haunting, powerful tale. The Kite Runner is about a young boy, Amir, growing up in a wealthy part of Kabul, Afghanistan, the only son of a popular entrepenuer, who betrays his best friend and later has a chance to redeem himself. As his father's best friend, Kahim, says, "There's a way to be good again."

Amir grows up with Hassan, the Hazara servant boy whose father, Ali, grew up with Amir's father. Hassan's mother left as soon as he was born, and he endured taunts and bullying all his life, especially for being a Hazara, which I've never heard of before but I gather it's like being a Jew in Nazi Germany, only with no money or education. So maybe it's more like the black slaves? Anyway, Amir knows he's a coward, he wants to write stories, not fight back against the likes of local, half-German tough boy Assef, who idolises Hitler. He knows his father is disappointed in him, and is jealous when his dad ("Baba") shows affection and preferential treatment toward Hassan.

Hassan is also the best kite runner in the city. The boys play a kite-flying game in winter; the strings are coated in tar and cut glass, and they deftly fly them so that their kite cuts the strings of other boys' kites. The winner is the last kite in the air, and extra kudos to you if you run down the last kite to be cut.

Amir wins the kite flying tournament one year, and sends Hassan off after the last cut kite. Hassan, devoted and loyal to Amir, runs off, saying over his shoulder, "For you, a thousand times over." Winning the tournament means everything to Amir, for Baba will love him now. But Amir witnesses something horrible horrible horrible, and does nothing, says nothing. Even when he learns that Hassan knows he saw what happened, Amir does nothing. He chooses his father's attention and love over Hassan. Because Hassan's presence reminds Amir of what happened, he can't stand being around him anymore, and finds a way to get rid of both Hassan and Ali.

Amir is a very interesting character. As a boy, aware of his own weaknesses, he is not very likeable, though as a literary character his personality is so well written, his first-person voice edged with a touch of snobby, upper-class arrogance. He is embarrassed by Hassan: while he likes to play with him, when Amir's other friends are around Hassan isn't invited to join in, and Amir never calls him his friend. When Amir is older, he knows that Hassan was the better person, the stronger and braver and kinder, more generous soul. But Amir is just a child, and one with high expectations of himself, let alone his father's.

There were many things to love about this book. First of all, it wasn't set in the 50s!! It starts out in the 70s, when Amir is about 12, and follows him through to 2002, about a year after 9/11. It is very eye-opening in regards to Afghanistan, a country where, frankly, very few of us know much about. The Kite Runner reveals how relatively modern their lives were before the Russians entered the scene, and how the Taliban were welcomed at first because they got rid of the Russians. After that, Hosseini is very unforgiving towards the Taliban, and paints a very black picture of them. When Amir has to return from America to Afghanistan, the depictions of the Taliban executing adulterers and threatening people for cheering too loudly at sports events, is frightening. What happens to Amir when he encounters an old foe is even scarier. Yet this is not a morbid book. There is a vein of silver running all through it: hope. The book ends with hope, a small nugget of it, a private, personal hope, but important nonetheless.

Hosseini shows the human side of Afghanistan, not the poppy-growing, fanatical side. He paints a picture of Kabul full of Mulberry and pomegranate trees, green grass and playing fields and parks, markets full of the spicy aroma of kabobs, and a tightly-knit community no less family-oriented than the Greeks or Italians. I learnt about some Afghan customs, I even learnt the meaning of some words, like Inshallah ("God willing", if my memory serves me correctly - I don't have the book with me).

This is a sad tale, for what was lost and what was - and is - endured, but also a warm one, for the colourful characters, the solidarity, the determination. Ultimately a story of survival and redemption, The Kite Runner was thoroughly enjoyable, a quick, not particularly challenging read, but one that challenges our assumptions and prejudices.(less)

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05/17/07

Luther Obrock rated it:

I gave this book one star. Yes it is about Afghanistan, yes it contains some interesting and even well-written scenes, but all-in-all this book is maudlin and over the top and seems to refuse to end until every imaginable soap-opera-esque turn of plot has been explored and milked of every melodramatic possibility. Hosseini also has a penchant for the artlessly grotesque, and his scenes of child rape are jarring--made even more so by his seeming inability to integrate them meaningfully into the...more

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05/21/08

Keely rated it:

bookshelves: contemporary-fiction, novel, reviewed

Read in July, 2008

This is the sort of book White America reads to feel wordly. Just like the spate of Native American pop fiction in the late eighties, this is overwhelmingly colonized literature, in that it pretends to reveal some aspect of the 'other' culture, but a closer inspection reveals that aside from the occasional tidbit, it is a western story, firmly ensconced in the western tradition. Even those tidbits Hosseini gives are of such a vague degree that to be impressed by them, one would have to have almo...more This is the sort of book White America reads to feel wordly. Just like the spate of Native American pop fiction in the late eighties, this is overwhelmingly colonized literature, in that it pretends to reveal some aspect of the 'other' culture, but a closer inspection reveals that aside from the occasional tidbit, it is a western story, firmly ensconced in the western tradition. Even those tidbits Hosseini gives are of such a vague degree that to be impressed by them, one would have to have almost no knowledge of the history of Afghanistan, nor the cultural conflicts raging there between the shia and sunni Muslims. Of course, most Americans have no familiarity with either.

Hosseini's story is thickly foreshadowed and wraps up so nicely in the end that it negates the ability of the text to produce anything interesting or surprising. Every coincidence that could happen, does happen. He attempts to wrangle in the reader's interest despite this, usually with dramatized violence. He is also fond of forcing tension by creating a small conflict between two characters and then having them agonize over it for years. This would not be problematic in itself, except that the conflict does not grow or change over time, leaving the characters' reactions petty and repetitive.

He even creates a cliched 'white devil' character, a literal sociopath (and pedophile) as the symbol for the 'evils' of the Taliban. This contrasts oddly since book does not shy away from representing the simple inequalities and pointless conflicts which stem from Afghan tradition, itself. His indelicate inclusion of wealthy, beautiful, white power as the source of religious turmoil in the mid-east negates his hints that the conflicts are caused by small-mindedness.

The sad part about this book is that it will allow white America both to feel sympathy with the mid-east conflict, and also to retain a sense of superiority over the Muslims and their 'backwards, classicist, warlike' ways. Even after all of that, they will not really have come to any understanding of the vast and vital economic concerns which have made the mid-east so important to the future of the world.

It is unfortunate that nowhere amongst this book's artfully dramatized violence or its alternative praising and demonizing of the West is there the underlying sense of why this conflict is happening, of what put it all into place, and of why it will continue to drag us all down. The point where we could turn our sympathy into indignation or realization is simply absent.

There is a meme on the internet showing a map of the world with the mid-east replaced by a sea-filled crater with the comment 'problem solved'. What this map fails to represent is that there is a reason the west keeps meddling in the affairs of the mid-east, and that every time we do, it creates another conflict. As long as we see the Taliban as faceless sociopaths, we can do nothing against them. We must recognize that normal people fall down these paths, and that everyone sees himself as being 'in the right'. So who is more right: a Westerner who bombs a child, or a Muslim who does?

The point shouldn't be to separate the 'good Muslims' from the 'bad Muslims', because people aren't fundamentally good or bad. They are fundamentally people. Almost without exception, they are looking out for their future, their children, and their communities. Calling someone 'evil' merely means you have ceased to try understanding their point of view, and decided instead to merely hate for hatred's sake.

This book isn't particularly insightful or well-written, but that is in no way remarkable from bestsellers. The problem is that Americans are going to use this book to justify their ignorance about the problems in the east. This book will make people feel better about themselves, instead of help them to think better about the world.(less)

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quotes from this book

" 'And this is what I want you to understand, that good, real good, was born out of your father's remorse. Sometimes, I thing everything he did, feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need, it was all his way of redeeming himself. And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good.'" More quotes...