Diverse Reads Annotation: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

 

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Title: The Kite Runner

Genre: Diverse Reads

Publication Date: January 1, 2003

Number of Pages: 371

Geographical Setting: Afghanistan, Pakistan, San Francisco

Time Period: 1975-2003

Series (If applicable): N/A

Plot Summary:

In 1970s Afghanistan, twelve-year-old Amir has a wealthy, successful businessman for a father and a loyal, selfless servant for a best friend. Amir wants nothing more than to impress his father, so he and Hassan, his friend, vow to win the local kite fighting tournament. The day of the games, something terrible happens that changes their lives forever.

Amir and his father eventually move to America to escape invading Russians. Although Amir grows up and creates a life there, something is missing. He receives a letter beckoning him to return to Afghanistan and own up to the mistakes of his past. In spite of the dangerous Taliban rule in his home country, Amir knows that he must go to appease the ghosts of his past.

Content Warnings:

Graphic descriptions of extreme cruelty and violence, including homosexual rape, murder, beatings, and a suicide attempt.

Subject Headings:

Male friendship — Fiction.

Social classes — Fiction.

Betrayal — Fiction.

Boys — Fiction.

Boys — Afghanistan — Fiction.

Fathers and sons — Fiction.

Kabul (Afghanistan) — Fiction.

Afghanistan — Fiction.

Diverse Author Appeal:

Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan author and brings his experience of life in Afghanistan and immigration to the U.S. to the story. The setting is in multiple places around the world including Kabul, the author’s hometown, and San Francisco, where the main character lives in a community of Afghan immigrants. We see some Afghani traditions, such as the kite fighting tournament and what a courtship looks like. We also get the perspective of an Afghani man experiencing his war-torn country. The characters in the novel are generally three-dimensional and believable.

3 terms that best describe this book:

Haunting, bittersweet, bleak

Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors:

The Soviet-Afghan War by Anthony Tucker-Jones

This book is a photographic history of the conflict between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan. It gives insight into the conflict that occurred during Amir’s childhood.

Charlie Wilson’s War  by George Crile

George Crile explains the link between the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of Militant Islam. We experience both ends of this war during Amir’s childhood and adulthood.

The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban  by Rosemarie Skaine

In The Kite Runner, we see a bit of the male experience of living under the Taliban; Amir wears a fake beard so patrolling soldiers don’t suspect that he is not Muslim (at the time). What we don’t see is much of the female experience. This book contains interviews with Afghan women that shed light on their experiences.

 

 

 

Relevant Fiction Works and Authors:

Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron

“Rwandan runner Jean Patrick Nkuba dreams of winning an Olympic gold medal and uniting his ethnically divided country, only to be driven from everyone he loves when the violence starts, after which he must find a way back to a better life.” This story tells a similar situation of a young man desiring to win a competition, and then his life being disrupted by violence beyond his control.

The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra

“Their lives as a diplomat and lawyer frozen by the ascendancy of the Taliban, Moshen and Zunaira find their situation becoming a nightmare when Zunaira is arrested and condemned to death.” This story takes place in the same town where Amir is from; the same town where Khaled Hosseini grew up. This is a story of two Afghani lives during the Taliban rule.

Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie

“Two years after her prospects are shattered by the bombing of Nagasaki, Hiroko Tanaka travels to Delhi in search of new beginnings and arrives in the home of her ex-fiancé's half-sister; but she finds her circumstances halted by conflicts in the Middle East that prompt her family's eventual relocation to America.” Though not set in Afghanistan, this story is similar in that the main character emigrates from her home in search of a new life, but is disrupted by world conflict.

 

Summaries from NoveList.

 

My Review

 

I have mixed feelings about this book, but I want to give it a fair review. To be honest, the first third of it made me so angry, and I thought if the whole book was going to be like that I’d give it one star. Amir frustrated me, and the way he behaved toward Hassan was unspeakable. I figured there had to be some reason this book is so loved by people, so I kept reading.

 

The middle of the book was better; it was refreshing to see Amir and Baba’s day-to-day life and the story of the romance with Soraya was sweet. Baba was humanized in this section, and Amir had a chance to grow up and stop being such a spoiled child.

 

The final third was really eye-opening about the lives of Afghans during the Taliban regime. My heart went out to Sohrab, and I was glad Amir FINALLY showed some backbone, even if he was basically forced to. Soraya was a saint; If I heard from my husband for the first time in two months, finding out he almost got himself killed and had been holding secrets from me for our entire marriage, I would have clubbed Amir over the head myself when he returned. I thought it strange that we didn’t find out about Baba’s lies until fifteen years after his death; I know the point was for Amir to “atone” for both of their sins, but I don’t think it worked. It’s unbelievably hypocritical of Baba to go on about theft being the worst sin as he lies every day to his sons.

 

This book kept seeming like it was going “This sad thing happened, aren’t you sad? Even though I foreshadowed it a zillion times? Cry already!” Especially towards the end, there was way too much clumsy foreshadowing. “Little did I know, I wouldn’t hear him speak for a year……” I feel like this is something you learn not to do in middle school creative writing class.

 

I think the worst part of the book was Assef. I read another review that compared him to a Disney villain and I agree; he was cartoonishly evil, and in my opinion an unnecessary antagonist to what would have already been a story full of struggle. Did we really need a nazi insert character?

 

Despite its flaws, some images in the writing stay in my mind. The descriptions of the countryside, Amir’s thoughts about Soraya, the Afghan way of life, and his father’s illness and passing are what shine. I listened to a lot of the audiobook, which was read by the author, and I think it was worth reading even just for me to learn how to properly pronounce “Afghan.”