The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Khaled Hosseini is a distinguished writer from Afghanistan and founder of Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help the refugees and downtrodden of his country.

The Kite Runner is a book based on two young boys who lived together but were never close to each other due to their social status.

Storyline: Amir, the son of a rich man in Kabul, Afghanistan is befriended by Hassan, a boy who is born to a low caste Hazara. Hassan, though is the servant’s kid, is allowed to play, dine and assist Amir in his daily routine. The innocent loyalty of Hassan towards Amir is so high that Amir’s father treats him as his second son and never treated him like a servant. But Amir does not replicate the same to Hassan many times, particularly one day when Hassan was attacked by a group of anti-Hazara boys from the neighborhood, when Hassan runs to fetch the kite struck and won by Amir in the famous Kite Festival of Kabul. This guilt of betrayal makes Amir to distance himself from Hassan though the later never minded it. This leads to Hassan leaving Amir’s home forever. Amir and his father later migrate to America after Afghanistan was taken over by the Russians. Hassan is forgotten by Amir in due course. After some years, Amir gets married in America and decides to visit Afghanistan followed by a phone call by his uncle Rahim. There he comes to know of his life secret that Hassan is non other than his half brother born to his father and the servant maid. Hassan dies in a Taliban attack trying to protect Amir’s house in Kabul a little earlier and is survived by his son, Sohrab. This child of Hassan is abducted by the Talibs from an orphanage and sexually abused. Amir takes the responsibility of rescuing Sohrab from the Talibs and adopts him, as a remorse to all his sins of betraying his father. Moreover Amir himself is childless. But the emotionally insecure Sohrab will not be able to gel into the new family as he misses his parents and freedom. After Afghanistan is freed from the Talibs, Amir and his family re-visits his homeland to do some charity activities. During one such activity, Sohrab takes interest in flying a kite and Amir flies the kite for him just like the way Sohrab’s father used to do for Amir. The story ends with Amir cutting the opponent’s kite and running for the severed kite just like the way his brother Hassan, used to do for him.

Pros: A great emotional story of live of two happy kids from different social strata, transformed into a tragedy for no fault of theirs. A story which shows how millions of lives have tragic endings due to an unexpected turmoil in the form of constant war, killings of the innocents and suffering of the survivors. Lucky were the one who were dead and dilapidated were the lives of the left behind. A highly emotional writing with apt usage of classic prose that will leave no reader tear-less while reading this book. I would recommend this book to every reader to know how some lives end up in tragedy simply for no fault of theirs. I appreciate the author’s talent in highlighting the Afghan culture and tradition in the most desirable way.

Cons: Child abuse was the point I hated to read in this book. Though this was the most disturbing fact of the day and ever growing menace in today’s world, I could not stand the way Hassan and his son were abused sexually by the upper caste during their childhood days. How can one do it to a kid? Disgusting!!! No wonder such kids will grow with extremist ideas and replicate the same after they grow up, inculcating the mindset of violence in their behavior..

My rating is 4.25 out of 5


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