The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is one of the few books published in recent years that are set in Afghanistan. These books tell the world about Afghanistan, its natives, the decades of warfare the country has seen and the devastating effects of it. Afghanistan is a beautiful place with nature’s beauty and bounty in abundance that men have ruined for gaining short-sighted political ends.

Author – Khalid Hosseini

Publisher - Bloomsbury

The story takes off with two boys Amir and Hassan growing up in the Afghanistan of the 1970′s. Amir, son of a wealthy merchant who is a formidable man, lost his mother when he was born. He is a boy with inclination towards reading books, reciting poetries and talent for writing stories but does not have any interest in sports and physical pursuits as his father would like. Hassan, son of their servant Ali, who belongs to a minority community group of “Hazras”, is a tough and loyal boy who serves as Amir’s friend, companion, servant and stands up for him in all the street fights and gets him out of all the tight corners. Nursed by the same woman, the boys learn how to crawl, play, read stories, and run kites side by side. The boys grow up together, establishing a bond thats more binding than blood ties.

Things get complicated when Amir’s father, Baba, seems to take a preference to Hassan who is athletic, smart and well-mannered. At the same time Baba finds it difficult to connect with Amir, who is more artistic, fragile and dreams of writing.

Then after a kite fighting tournament to which the title refers, something terrible happens that creates a rift between Amir and Hassan.  Not long after, they're separated when the Soviets begin moving in, setting off political chaos that remains till date.  Amir and his father go to America, while Hassan and his father stay in Afghanistan.

Over the ensuing 25 years, Amir grows up to be an able man and also finds a wife, but he never forgets Hassan or the moment of cowardice that ruined their friendship.  The only way for him to redeem himself--to be good again as a friend says--is to go back and face his demons.

This is definitely a book that came along at the right time.  With the 9/11 attacks planned by terrorists sheltered in Afghanistan and the subsequent US invasion, the American public was obviously hungry for any insight into Afghanistan and its people and Islam.  And the author doesn't disappoint here.  The problem the US faces, as did the Soviets and British before them, is that Afghans are reckless and not prone to following rigid rules, as Hosseini describes during the kite fighting.  And it has its own melting pot of cultures that to outsiders would seem trivial but to them (as demonstrated by the very different lives of Amir and Hassan) are extremely important.

A gripping emotional thriller with an ability to involve the reader in the fascinating journey of characters through inner and outer turmoil.