The Kite Runner — Khaled Hosseini, A Review
I have heard about this book a lot of times in the past few years. Looking at the title I thought it would be a happy little book about the adventures of a boy who loves to fly kites. Well! The book was way deeper, intense, and thought-provoking than anything I have ever read.
The story of a boy named Amir, who lives in Kabul, Afghanistan with his father who is a brave and proud Afghan man trying to do the best for his kid. The story begins in the pre-war times of Afghanistan, where Amir lives with his father (Baba), his best friend (Hassan) in a big house where he has everything a small boy could imagine (almost). Eating pomegranates, delectable Kebabs, playing cards, and roaming around with Hassan in the streets of Kabul like an emperor. Soon, his happy little life is obstructed by a strange chain of events. He sees a version of himself that he thought never existed. He is stuck between his desire to be the son his father wants and the friend he wishes he could be.
Amir who is best friends and sort of brothers with Hassan leaves him behind. The story beautifully explores the delicate relationship between a boy and his father, a friend, his childhood. The dark sides which we all have inside us. The heart-aching desire to atone for the sins, and finally a hopeful ending. The story tells us that no matter where we go, how older we get, we carry a part of our home and our culture wherever we go. The whole read will take you through the twists and turns of the journey of Amir. He is the protagonist no doubt but with his goodness and talent, his not-so-good part of the character is as easily described by the Author. The story seems so real and so believable that once you read it your heart aches for the characters as if you want to travel across the world and help them, do something for them. Amir’s father teaches him an important lesson, that thievery is the worst kind of sin. When you kill a man, you steal his kids of their childhood and his mother of her husband. The story realistically portrays the ongoing condition of Afghans and how they are forced to leave their houses and countries and hide to save themselves even in this modern and global world.
Today we have access to the internet, all the facilities, education but still in a corner of the world, landlocked by mountains there is a place where people are fighting and crying themselves to sleep hoping to see another day. As I read the book, I felt as if I was there with the characters Amir, Hassan, Fareed, Rahim Khan, Soraya. The story inspires us to be better, do better, because even the little bit of goodness done by you goes a long way. The hope for a better childhood and better lives for the millions of Afghans who are going through an endless war of generations, the hope that women would be able to speak up and feel free in a true sense. That they won’t have to fight for basic rights, that there would be music, color, happiness back in the lives of the millions of people of Afghanistan.
