The Kite Runner Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

The Kite Runner Book

The Kite Runner of Khaled Hosseini's deeply moving fiction debut is an illiterate Afghan boy with an uncanny instinct for predicting exactly where a downed kite will land. Growing up in the city of Kabul in the early 1970s, Hassan was narrator Amir's closest friend even though the loyal 11-year-old with "a face like a Chinese doll" was the son of Amir's father's servant and a member of Afghanistan's despised Hazara minority. But in 1975, on the day of Kabul's annual kite-fighting tournament, something unspeakable happened between the two boys.Narrated by Amir, a 40-year-old novelist living in California, The Kite Runner tells the gripping story of a boyhood friendship destroyed by jealousy, fear, and the kind of ruthless evil that transcends mere politics. Running parallel to this personal narrative of loss and redemption is the story of modern Afghanistan and of Amir's equally guilt-ridden relationship with the war-torn city of his birth. The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner begins in the final days of King Zahir Shah's 40-year reign and traces the country's fall from a secluded oasis to a tank-strewn battlefield controlled by the Russians and then the trigger-happy Taliban. When Amir returns to Kabul to rescue Hassan's orphaned child, the personal and the political get tangled together in a plot that is as suspenseful as it is taut with feeling.The son of an Afghan diplomat whose family received political asylum in the United States in 1980, Hosseini combines the unflinching realism of a war correspondent with the satisfying emotional pull of master storytellers such as Rohinton Mistry. Like the kite that is its central image, the story line of this mesmerizing first novel occasionally dips and seems almost to dive to the ground. But Hosseini ultimately keeps everything airborne until his heartrending conclusion in an American picnic park. --Lisa Alward, Amazon.caRead More

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  • Angus spawton-Rice04 December 2009

    This is the first insight that many of us have had into life in Afghanistan, the effect of the events so often covered in the news shown from the perspective of those living amongst these difficult changes.

    The tale is of two young boys who are separated in every way by the society they live in despite growing up as the closest of friends. Political turmoil in their homeland finally divides them permanently as Amir, the main protagonist flees for refuge in California. Running away becomes a major part of Amir's character, causing him to build up unbearable guilt throughout his life.

    After finally making a comfortable and safe life for himself in America, Amir receives a call, which reminds him of his troubled life. An almost forgotten voice gives him the chance to "be good again". Embarking on a journey which began as a favour soon transforms into a meaningful adventure into the carnage that is modern Kabul as well as into Amir's memories, where he finally finds absolution only after entering the darkest realms of guilt.

    The Kite Runner shows the true prejudices that exist in Afghanistan, which ultimately lead to terrible conflicts which exist. It is an emotionally gripping tale of sacrifice, personal gain and the cost of both of these things on others and ourselves.

  • Holly09 November 2008

    This was a book that I felt I 'ought' to read as it had been recommended in so many reviews. Consequently, it sat on the shelf, untouched for several months until I felt ready to tackle it... However, as soon as I started it I was pulled in to the story; the characters came alive and, although I knew some elements of the story beforehand,I was keen to read for myself and find out what happened. In many ways this is a very sad story. Not only for the individual characters but also for the way in which it portrays life in Afghanistan. Nothing in the many news reports that I have read/seen explained the everyday situation as well as this novel. Thus I enjoyed it on two levels: as a story and also as a social history. If this sounds rather dull,I apologise, it really isn't a dull novel! (Also, it has to be said that I am not a great fan of weepy stories, however there was enough hope for a positive outcome at the end to prevent it from being too depressing.) Do read it if you can.

  • Amazon

    The remarkable debut novel from Khaled Hosseini, now out in paperback in a stunning new package

  • Play

    Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the approval of his father and resolves to win the local kite-fighting tournament to prove that he has the makings of a man. His loyal friend Hassan promises to help him - for he always helps Amir - but this is 1970s Afghanistan and Hassan is merely a low-caste servant who is jeered at in the street although Amir still feels jealous of his natural courage and the place he holds in his father's heart. But neither of the boys could foresee what would happen to Hassan on the afternoon of the tournament which was to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America Amir realises that one day he must return to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.

  • TheBookPeople

    The heart-warming and heart-wrenching bestseller from Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner spawned a popular screenplay in 2007 and remains a much-loved novel. A powerful tale of childhood friendship and fierce cruelty, it is a novel of sharp and emotional contrasts.

  • 0747566534
  • 9780747566533
  • Khaled Hosseini
  • 7 June 2004
  • Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 336
  • New edition
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