The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner

By: Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner is a powerful novel of friendship, loyalty, betrayal and redemption set against 30 years of turmoil in Afghanistan. The story opens with Amir, the narrator, as a young privileged boy growing up in Kabul, we see him going to school in the summer, fighting kites in winter and always yearning for his father’s love and respect. As the Russians roll into Kabul events unfold that shatter Amir’s idyllic life and lead him into exile. Throughout the remainder of the story we follow him as he grows and attempts to come to terms with his current life, the life he has lost, and struggling to become the person he wants to be.

There is a simple and elegant reason that this an International Best Seller, it is because this is an amazing book. The firs person perspective, vivid details of everyday life, and raw emotion draw the reader easily and effortlessly into Amir’s life and even in his darkest moments one feels his pain and aches and suffers along with him. The plot is straightforward without being too obvious and the few twists are well conceived, adding to the story rather than being there for their own sake.

My only misgiving about the book was the drawn out ending. Hosseini could have gone for the easy Hollywood ending, which would have been fairly natural and which I honestly expected with nearly 50 pages left in the book. Instead he opted for a more realistic and awkward ending that didn’t leave me with a huge “all is right in the world” Hollywood-high but rather the sense that life does not wrap up perfectly, it just carries on in the best possible way it can. In the end, this fits the book much better and I would whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone.