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Feb 09, 2012

Chris rated it:

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...

125 comments like (431 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2011

Linda rated it:

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...

35 comments like (138 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2011

Keely rated it:

This is the sort of book White America reads to feel worldly. 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 on closer inspection (aside from the occasional tidbit) it is a thoroughly 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 More...

27 comments like (48 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2008

Britta rated it:

"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...

12 comments like (176 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Naeem rated it:

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...

50 comments like (57 people liked it)

Jan 18, 2008

Matt rated it:

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...

45 comments like (81 people liked it)

Aug 31, 2011

Ravi rated it:

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 th More...

15 comments like (25 people liked it)

Aug 15, 2011

Roos rated it:

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...

96 comments like (25 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Linda rated it:

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 Cheez More...

9 comments like (39 people liked it)

May 15, 2008

Jackie rated it:

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

25 comments like (39 people liked it)

Jun 14, 2008

La Petite Américaine added it

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...

81 comments like (64 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Michael rated it:

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...

2 comments like (23 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2010

Mystique rated it:

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...

2 comments like (20 people liked it)

Oct 16, 2007

Msmeemee rated it:

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...

4 comments like (15 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Wade rated it:

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...

0 comments like (12 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Luther 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...

7 comments like (16 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2011

Zeek rated it:

I felt a bit apprehensive picking up The Kite Runner, considering all the buzz about it. (I don't trust overhyped books.) But, thankfully, it lived up to the publicity.

The story starts off set in Afghanistan, before the Taliban were in control and even before Russia began their campaign. It could have been set in the deep south of America prior to 1960 for that matter, or in Berlin right around the time Hitler reigned supreme, or perhaps more closely to regency England and colonial More...

4 comments like (13 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2007

Jamie rated it:

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...

2 comments like (14 people liked it)

Jul 21, 2008

Hasanuddin rated it:

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...

40 comments like (11 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2008

Cristina rated it:

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

3 comments like (7 people liked it)

May 28, 2008

Shannon rated it:

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...

2 comments like (17 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Sammy rated it:

What a powerful story. I didn't think I was going to like this book as much as I did... but I really did. I got so involved in this book that my emotions were going haywire. Not just feeling happy and sad as you do with most books, but feeling anxious and angry and dissappointed. Everything these characters felt I began to feel. That's definitely the mark of a great novel and a great writer.

One thing I think this novel really does is shed light on a situation we really don't know all More...

2 comments like (19 people liked it)

Apr 24, 2008

HappyHippo rated it:

I lay in the dark the night Rahim Khan called and traced with my eyes the parallel silver lines on the wall made by moonlight pouring through the blinds. At some point, maybe just before dawn, I drifted to sleep. And dreamed of Hassan running in the snow, the hem of his green chapan dragging behind him, snow crunching under his black rubber boots. He was yelling over his shoulder: For you, a thousand times over!

There's nothing to tell...
Story that almost everyone knows about.
More...

8 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2008

Sha rated it:

Ia telah membuat saya menangis.
Menangis bombay orang bilang.

Saya menemukannya di satu siang, ditengah kekesalan baru ditinggal kereta untuk menuju kota sebelah. Akhirnya memutuskan untuk membunuh waktu di toko buku stasiun. Disanalah saya bertemu dengannya. Saya memutar-mutarnya untuk melihat lebih dekat, tapi kemudian meletakkannya kembali setelah melihat stiker kecil bertuliskan 10.99 Euro.

Ia menjadi buku mahal yang terlupakan.

Saya menemukannya kembali More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jul 07, 2008

Alison rated it:

"And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good."

What is there to say about this novel, 2006's reading group book of the year, that hasn't already been said?

The Kite Runner is a wonderful story. It's captivating, it's far-reaching, and it covers innumerable themes: guilt, family, friendship, atonement...the list could go on and on. Outside of being an interesting narrative and a pretty good piece of literature...here's why More...

3 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jan 06, 2008

Janet rated it:

This novel fascinated me. It's a great example of the power of a good story. The author was a rookie, and he didn't yet have a solid command of the craft, but he certainly had something important to say. There are some big spoilers ahead, so if you're planning to read this one, you might want to stop here.

I enjoyed the rich portrait of Afghani culture, both at home and in exile in the US. The story's time-frame before and after the Soviet invasion lets an American reader underst More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 25, 2007

Judith rated it:

I posted these comments to other reviews, which I found both fair and unflinching.

Except for certain details (the kites, e.g.) you really could transpose this story to any hot spot, including, say, hurricane-stricken New Orleans. I picked up this book hoping for an Afghanistan-based novel that would achieve, say, what Italo Svevo did with Trieste as a backdrop, or Pramoedeya Anta Toer with Indonesia, or Nuruddin Farah with Somalia, or Don de Lillo's White Noise does with middle Ameri More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2008

CB rated it:

This book is a clumsy exercise in melodrama, consistently given a free pass for its topical setting that allows affluent Westerners to feel righteous empathy and solidarity with cliched archetypes. The underlying literary themes in this book - loyalty, family, regret - are all dealt with infinitely better by better authors in better books. Coupled with the fact that the Kite Runner's unweildy prose has all the grace of a highschool newspaper article, it's a wonder how people keep praising it.
More...

0 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2008

Apoorva rated it:

I read this book after it seemed like everyone else around me read it and went on and on about how great it is. It's absolutely one of the most overrated books of all time, right up there with the da vinci code. honestly, i felt i was reading the plot of a (particularly bad) bollywood film the entire time. heavy-handed symbolism, cliches galore, one-dimensional characters, ludicrous situations, melodramatic dialogue, a thoroughly unlikable protagonist, there was no end to the book's flaws. the More...

4 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2012

Stephen rated it:

I liked this book a lot. Due to the uncomfortable nature of the story told, I'll probably never read it again, but I'm glad that I did read it once. I saw it as the story of one not very likeable boy growing up in a soon to be war torn region and his eventual stuggle for redemption.

I was quite suprised to see how popular some of the negative reviews of this book were and I'd like to comment on a few of the comments they contained.

One condemnatory critic said "This More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)