About the Book
- Title: The Kite Runner
- Author:
Khaled Hosseini
- Publisher:
Bloomsbury
- Year:
2003
- Point
of View: First Person
- Genre: Historical Fiction
- Pages: 324
Introduction
Violence was going through the roof in
Afghanistan, when Khaled Hosseini’s debut masterpiece The Kite Runner came along in 2003. Written against the
backdrops of communist element’s accession to power in Kabul, the USSR’s
full-scale invasion of Afghanistan and Taliban’s first ever stint in power, the
novel is a poignant tale of Two Afghan kids, Amir and Hassan. The Kite Runner
was a blockbuster novel, amassing popular applause and approval across the
globe.
Setting of the Novel
The Kite Runner is set partly in Afghanistan and
the United States, in the last quarter of the twentieth century. In Afghanistan,
it is primarily set in Amir’s abode in Wazir Akbar Khan town in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan.
In the United States, on the other hand, the novel is located in California, which the writer
now calls home.
Short Summery of the Story
The Kite Runner is a moving and enthralling
narrative of Amir and Hassan, those two kids from Kabul. Amir is the son of a
distinguished businessman of Kabul, Agha Sahib; Hassan, on the other hand, is born to Ali, a man from impoverished Hazara clan. Ali is a servant to Agha Sahib, so
is Hassan to Amir. Amir and Hassan, having grown up together and feed from the
same breasts, have been bosom friends of each other since their childhood.
Together in childish antics and playing, the two are expert in Kite fighting, a common
game of Kabul of that time. Each year is held a Kite fighting tournament in
Kabul, which Amir and Hassan take part in. This year, however, they pledge to win the fighting,
which they do, but something unthinkable happens just after the fighting that separates
the two friends from each other forever.
Later on, Afghanistan is invaded by the USSR in
1979 and Amir and his father are compelled to flee Afghanistan and settle in
Peshawar, the capital of northwestern province of Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
To save the future of Amir, his father decides to take asylum in the US, where
Amir begins his life as student and his father as servant in an oil company.
Over there in America, Amir’s father asks the hand
of Soraya Tahiri, a girl from Afghanistan, for Amir, which her father consent
to. Agha Sahib dies of a disease shortly after the marriage, leaving Amir
behind.
One day, Rahim Khan, Agha Sahib’s business friend
in Kabul who is now in Peshawar, call Amir and tells him that “there is a way
to be good again”. He further asks Amir to come see him, for he was no longer
well. Amir complies with the call from Rahim and visits Pakistan, meeting him
in his house in Peshawar.
Rahim Khan tells Amir that Hassan and his wife has
been killed by Taliban regime in Kabul and his child Suhrab is living in an
orphanage. Rahim tells him that Suhrab needs to be taken out of the orphanage
for his life is in
danger.
He requests Amir to go Kabul and save his bosom friend’s child, which Amir says
‘no’ to. Then Rahim discloses to him a top secret: Hassan was his half-brother.
Although reluctant at first, Amir goes out on an
adventure, touching off the risk, to rescue Suhrab. Now will nothing stand in
his way to redeem for his betrayal with Hassan and that of his father with Ali.
Characters
All of the stories I have ever read, the character
arc of The Kite Runner is the one I liked the most. It is through Amir
perspective that we get to know the feeling of compunction. Hassan, on the
other hand, steers us to visualize the true sense of sincerity in friendship.
Themes of the Novel
Sincerity in friendship characterizes the novel. Betrayal,
guilt, redemption, love, patriotism, non-violence are some of the themes Khaled
Hosseini wants to convey to his readers.
The Reviewer’s View
Narrated in the first person through Amir
perspective, The Kite Runner is one of the most riveting stories that I have
ever read. The overall language and tone of the novel is simple, striking and
powerful. What I like the most in the way Hosseini has employed his words, are
his metaphors and similes. They are genuine and new, making the novel engaging
and meaningful. A single simile should serve as an example:
At
parties, when all six-foot‐five of him thundered into the room, attention
shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun.
Moreover, the plot of the novel is intriguing and
engrossing. It keeps you hooked, making you ask: what will happen next? This
element, however, disappears in the last chapters, especially when the
redemption begins. You are no more engaged now. For instance, you lost that
feeling you had for Hassan when revealed that he had been killed. It seems that
if another plot has just begin, detached from the early scenes. Another thing
that I didn’t like much was the awkward coincidences, like the one in which
Amir finds a bagger in Kabul, who had been his mother co-league in college.
Above all, I sense nothing hyperbolic in saying
that The Kite Runner is one of the few novels that would build permanent abodes in one’s
heart and remain in one’s mind locked.
Based on its flawless plot, the critical insight it provides into different array of life in Afghanistan, and the ambitious allusion to the ups and downs in the social, political, and cultural fabrics of that country, it is recommended, or rather a must read for those who are interested in understanding such affairs.
Saqib Wazir is a matric student, who aspires to become a fiction writer.
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2 Reasons Why The Kite Runner Sold in Millions
Very well written review. It thoroughly explain the book and its author.
ReplyDeleteVery well
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