Jeanne read and liked Emily Z's review of The Kite Runner:

"Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner
New York: Riverhead Books, 2004
380 pp. $15.00
978-1-59448-000-3

One word accurately defines Kaled Hosseini's memorable novel "The Kite Runner", and that word is "powerful"...more Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner
New York: Riverhead Books, 2004
380 pp. $15.00
978-1-59448-000-3

One word accurately defines Kaled Hosseini's memorable novel "The Kite Runner", and that word is "powerful". All over the world, readers are captivated by a unique tale describing a boy in Afganistan whose life changes dramatically by his own decision as well as outside forces he cannot control. The boy, Amir, grows up to regret his actions and feel nostalgia for his ruined childhood hometown, feelings vividly shared with the reader. Hosseini writes with a poetic touch, often including fragments to "casualize" a novel with a serious plot. He gives Amir a voice, a thunderous one, to tell an influential story. Hosseini's well-admired style and the power still echoing strong through layers of informal-ness combine to create a remarkable story out of a typical Afghani boy.
Writing is an art, and Hosseini can definitely agree to that. ''The Kite Runner'' is fully composed of either dialogue or a boy's thoughts. Many writers make dialogues unrealistically advanced in intellect, whereas Hosseini defies generic authoring by limiting his characters to having the short, not so witty responses the regular person makes in an everyday conversation. The voice he creates for Amir is also realistic, as Amir is often caught thinking in fragments like ''And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words.
Mine was Baba.
His was Amir. My name.
Looking back at it now, I think the foundation for what happened in the winter of 1975—and all that followed—was already laid in those first words" [11]. The way lines were shortened once in a while adds another feature to make "The Kite Runner" an easy to read, guaranteed to be enjoyable novel.
Universal themes plus a powerful message equals a well-developed, yet incredibly simple plot that fuels a reader through Amir's unpredictable life. ''The Kite Runner'' is a roman a clef, following the life of an Afghani boy who grows out of his joyful childhood into a harsh world full of regret, tragedies, and truths. Interesting events entertained readers with perfect timing. Though everything was explained with adequate detail, no one event was discussed with too much unnecessary ''fluff''. The entire plotline was surprising, with minimal explicit foreshadowing. Right after Hassan, Amir's servant and best friend, left them, Amir and his father left Kabul, their home, without any warning. ''Standing on the shoulder of the road, I thought of the way we’d left the house where I’d lived my entire life, as if we were going out for a bite: dishes smeared with kofta piled in the kitchen sink; laundry in the wicker basket in the foyer; beds unmade; Baba’s business suits hanging in the closet” [112]. Just as surprised as a reader must have felt when the father and son left their home for good that day, the oblivious servant of theirs had no idea about their elopement until after it happened.
A simple story with deep themes, “The Kite Runner” captures the readers’ heart. Beautifully crafted, a reader is not only a reader, but a character as well. While enjoying every detail of Amir's life, one can summarize this novel as the story of a boy in Afganistan, whose life turns around with his decision and the Russian revolution.



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