Book blogging

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

My review

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

This story of a boy growing up in Kabul - back when Afghanistan wasn't synonymous with religious extremism - is beautifully written and achingly real. It is the story of a rich, privileged boy (Amir) and a poor servant boy (Hassan) whose real or imagined friendship (depends on who you ask) carries them through childhood until both of their lives are irreversibly tainted by evil.

And then the Russians come.

Years later, Amir - now living in America - receives a call from Pakistan. An old friend of the family tells him, "There is a way to be good again," and draws him back to his childhood home. He barely recognizes the land of his birth, but the chance to finally find a measure of relief from the guilt he has carried around most of his life is undeniable.

Unlike novels of lesser caliber, The Kite Runner never reveals its secrets before Hosseini is ready. The last hundred pages or so are filled with revelations and back-to-back shocks and surprises. In retrospect, the foreshadowing of many events was apparent, but at no point does Hosseini bang the reader over the head with it. There is a quiet morality within this heartbreaking tale, and the reader is well expected to find it without help.

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