Kite Runner Book

The Kite Runner- Book Review

Firstly let me say that 'The Kite Runner' is one of the most powerfully written & well crafted pieces of fiction I have met to date. This piece of literature literally took over my life for the time I was reading it, delivering drama, horror, tension & laughter on each page. Written by Khaled Hosseini it offers a unique insight into an Afghan life and the dangers and horrors that plague it's streets; it really allows people from the west to realise how much we actually have & take for granted. It was received very well internationally after it's 2003 release: it won the South African Boeke Prize in 2004 and was the first 2005 best seller in the United States. However it was not without it's controversy and indeed the Afghani ministry of Culture banned the film adaption from distribution in Afghanistan.

The narrative of the novel is centred around a young Afghani: Amir & his growth into manhood. It takes the form of a retrospective novel and indeed the first chapter is set in 2001 and then we have a large time jump back to 1975 giving is distorted chronology. This modern setting in the first chapter allows adult Amir to express his feeling of regret & resentment for his actions which gives the novel a dark, bleak feeling from that moment on and was clearly intended to do so. It tells the story of Amir & his father's servant's boy Hassan, Amir is a Pashtun whilst Hassan is a Hazara and at this time there is a clear racial divide & indeed Amir is mocked by a local boy Assef for associating with Hassan and threatens to beat Amir up; however Hassan stands up to him threatening to take his eye out with a slingshot which leads to Assef demanding revenge and ultimately the event the entire novel is focused around.

Hassan is a faithful "kite runner" to Amir where in kite championships he fetches fallen kites as trophies of Amir's work. Amir's struggle to win his father: "Baba's" praise finally ends when he wins the local kite tournament. This provides a unique insight into Afghani culture and the unity felt between the Afghans is evident and even shames our western culture with our division and separation. Upon Hassan's finding of the last defeated kite, an impressive trophy, he encounters Assef who demands the kite; however Hassan refuses defending it for Amir. Assef then performs an act that stirs disgust and which has given the most powerful reaction I have ever had whilst reading: he beats Hassan and then anally rapes him. Amir is witness to the event but has been hiding and did not have the courage to face Assef; but also because if he did stand up for Hassan he may not retrieve the kite, his key for Baba's approval & so chooses Baba over Hassan. The rest of the novel revolves around Amir trying to achieve redemption for his actions and covers three decades. It gives us a picture of war torn Afghanistan and tells of Amir and Baba's flight during the soviet invasion to America. We see Amir grow and even marry in America; however his past continually haunts him. One day an old friend of his father's calls and asks him to come back to Afghanistan; now ruled by the Taliban this also gives us an insight into the Taliban's actions and gives people in the west a new perspective of the Afghani's position. Amir is tasked with finding Hassan's son after discovering that Hassan has been killed by the Taliban defending his old house. Here he also discovers that after all these years Hassan was his half brother. Upon finding Sohrab, Hassan's son, he fights his old foe Assef who is now high up in the Taliban and manages to bring him back to America for a better life & in so achieves his long sought after redemption.

This dark tale explores the importance of the different relationships we experience every day: the bond between a father and son and the desire for a father's approval. The bond between friends shown by Hassan's sycophantic attitude towards Amir. It opens them up and shows them for what they truly are, all their beauty and horror and all from a completely different perspective than a western reader would be used to. The Afghani vocabulary used gives the novel a sense of realism and immersion that I have rarely seen through a book. We see Amir's development from a vulnerable and indeed almost pathetic boy into a man who will stand for what is right, he is not the protagonist of the story because there isn't one. This story is not of heroes and villains but of reality and her cruelty and how to overcome it.

The Kite Runner showcases human life in a new way and shows the rich and the luxurious lives that we really have. Hassan is born with a harelip and has to deal with this for many years, medical treatment is expensive and life is hard. This novel not only tells a story but tells a moral. This is not a moral akin to those from the Grimm Brother's fairy tales. This a relevant and important social moral it teaches us the similarities between us and those of a different race and the stupidity that racism brings. With a film adaptation and several stage ones this message has been spread internationally and people listen. Not only for the riveting and dramatic story but for the truth of it.

Read it.