The Kite Runner

I read the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini who has also written A Thousand Splendid Suns. These books are both staged in the middle east and are set during war times. The Kite Runner is a very sad and almost upsetting novel. Two boys in Afghanistan, Hassan and Amir are best friends as Hassan’s father, Ali is a servant to Amir’s family. Ali and Hassan are Hazaras, a minority in the Afghanistan culture. This causes problems within Amir and Hassan’s friendship when Hassan gets ridiculed for being a Hazara, and Amir gets ridiculed for being friends with a Hazara. Conflict also arises between Amir and his father Baba as Baba believes Amir is weak and often compliments Hassan more than Amir. This causes Amir to enter a kite flying festival in order to win his father’s affection. Amir surprisingly wins the kite running festival and sends Hassan off to retrieve the fallen kite. While Hassan does so he gets raped by a neighborhood bully while others watch, Amir included. This causes some of the biggest tension between Amir and Hassan throughout the entire book. Amir’s lack of aid to Hassan makes their friendship awkward. Amir’s father Baba begins to again take pride in Hassan rather than Amir which again makes Amir feel bad about himself. Amir then sets up Hassan and says he has stolen money from him. Hassan being a loyal friend agrees to the thievery and Baba banishes Hassan and Ali from the house. During this the boys are apart a war breaks out in Afghanistan. Baba and Amir flee to America and Baba’s fortune is lost by doing so. Baba now has to work in a gas station and becomes very sick contracting cancer. As all of this is happening Hassan has married and had a child in Baba and Amir’s old home. Many years later Amir gets a phone call from Baba’s old friend that Amir and his wife have been killed by the Taliban and it is only right for Amir to save their son as he tells Amir that Amir and Hassan are half brothers and that Baba had an affair with Ali’s wife. Amir decides to go back to Afghanistan only to find Hassan’s son captured by a member of the Taliban. We later find out this Taliban member is Assef, the bully who raped Hassan years before. Amir and Assef battle for Amir’s son’s life and to avenge Hassan. Amir still being smaller than Assef has no chance but luckily Amir’s son shoots Assef in the eye with a slingshot granting their escape. Amir wants to get his nephew out of Afghanistan but without proof of Hassan and his wife’s death he is not able to adopt him. Amir had earlier promised not to put his nephew back in an orphanage when he indeed has to while he waits on being granted custody of the boy. Amir’s nephew loses trust in Amir after this and tries to commit suicide. Amir visits his nephew and decides to take him to the kite running festival. Here they bond over their love for Hassan.

I would recommend this book to those with strong stomachs. Books with physical or emotional pain inflicted on those of a different race or culture are hard for me to read as I relate to them to slavery and constantly think of slavery of my people. I would definitely recommend this book to others as the conflicts that arise keep you interested as I get very bored while reading books. There is no “ slow” part to this book as it climaxes to the end. I would highly recommend it to those looking for a book to keep them intrigued.

Book Review by Sydney S.