Review: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a fantastically wonderful book.

Amir lives with his father Baba. His best friend Hassan lives on the property with his father Ali who is their servant.

Amir's feels that his father looks down upon him, as Baba and Amir do not have much in common with one another, Amir is not good at playing or spectating at sport, Amir is more focused in reading books and he does not stand up for himself in the street when he is being bullied by the other children. Amir's mother passed away when she was giving birth to Amir, which adds to his alleged resentment of his son.

Amir and Hassan do everything together, almost like they are brothers, they go to movies together, they play together, Amir reads books to Hassan as Hassan cannot read or write. Amir is reading a book to Hassan, and decides to mix the book up a bit, play a little trick on Hassan and starts creating his own version of the book. Hassan loved the book, told Amir it is the best book he has read to him in a long time, which gets Amir thinking, and Amir then writes a book of own. Amir tells his father of the book that he has written, but his father is not interested, Rahim Khan takes pity on Amir and reads the book the boy has written. He then tells Amir it is a wonderful book and congratulates him on his efforts, that he will make a great writer one day.

Amir very excitedly ran downstairs to wake up his best friend Hassan and read the book to Hassan, Hassan also agreed it was a wonderful book, but could also see a plot error. At this very moment the boys world as they knew it had changed for ever, there were loud gun shots heard (in the middle of the night) and the sky was lighting up with sheets of gun fire. The happy Afghanistan that the boys had grown up in, had henceforth been changed.

Amir and his father Baba escape from the destruction of Afghanistan for America, their journey is an extremely difficult one, they experience tragedy and loss along the journey.

Once they reach America, Baba and Amir, struggle to make ends meet, they were wealthy and well respected in high society in Afghanistan and in America they are bordering on the edge of poverty. Baba works hard a petrol station, as a manager to make ends meet, and to give his son Amir the best possible life he can. On weekends they visit garage sales, and buy all the bargains then head to the flea markets on a Sunday and try to make a profit on their purchases from the day prior.

Amir has graduated High School, and living his dream of studying to become a writer, but Amir is always thinking of his friend Hassan. Hassan has had such a big impact on his life, that he misses his friend, and regrets the way they went their different ways and their friendship ended.

Decades later, Amir is a grown man he is married and house a house of his and has established a comfortable life for himself. He receives a surprise phone call from an old family friend from an Afghanistan, who only has a few days left to live, he says to Amir to come "there is a way to make things right again"

What walks into when he return to his old home town, can destroy a person, his old hometown is not what he remembers, it is destroyed by the war and overrun by the Taliban. Amir is given an impossible mission, which has next to no chance of survival.

I read this book when it was first released 17 years ago, and have decided to re-read again, it had a big impact on me then, and it's intriguing to see that the impact this time is still massive, but in an entirely different way.

To know and understand what has happened in Afghanistan since this book was released, and then what has become of Afghanistan now today in 2021 with the American troops being pulled out of there, makes the story not only relatable but visionary, it shows the hope and desperation the people of Afghanistan had for the return of their country to what is was, and here we other 17 years later, and things are only getting worse, but not for lack of trying.

This is not a book about war, it is a book about family, love, kinship, relationships, loss and suffering, it is heart breaking and heart warming at the same time.

The Kite runner by far is probably one of the best books I have ever read.

View all my reviews