The Kite Runner by Khaleid
Hosseini: A Book Review
Setting:
Afghanistan, America, Pakistan
Characters:
Amir, Baba , Hassan, Ali, Rahim Khan
Setting: - 1980’s –
Genre:
Family, Historical
Publication
date: 2003
Summary:
Hosseini has commented that he considers The Kite
Runner to be a father–son story, emphasizing the familial aspects of the
narrative, an element that he continued to use in his later works.[2]
Themes of guilt and redemption feature prominently in the novel,[3]
with a pivotal scene depicting an act of sexual assault that happens against
Hassan that Amir fails to prevent. The latter half of the book centers on
Amir's attempts to atone for this transgression by rescuing Hassan's son two
decades later. (Wikipedia)
Themes:
Father-son
Amir and his Baba
Amir had
always craved for his Baba’s( father) attention and love. He felt like his Baba was not proud of him
because he was not good in soccer nor he could not stand up for himself. Amir
was also jealous of Hassan ( his friend) because whatever toy his father gives
him, he would also give one to him and his father would always invite Hassan
when they wanted to go out. Amir wanted his father for himself.
In the long
run, during their travel to Pakistan and life in America, Amir and his father
became closer. His father worked hard to
provide him food and education. Note that Baba was popular, influential and
well-off in Afghanistan but all these, they left so they can start anew in
America , away from the war.
Baba’s last
fatherly duty before he died of cancer was asking permission from the General
to let Amir marry his daughter. People spoke of his greatness when he died
especially how he helped those in need.
Baba and Hassan
Hassan and
Ali are Hazaras. They belong to the lower class and considered as servants.
Hassan never
knew that his master was his real father. All he thought was that his father
was Ali, another Hazara and that his mother left when she saw that he had cleft
pallet, Hassan was the good child. Ali
was the good father.
Baba’s sin
was Hassan.
Brotherhood and Friendship
Amir and
Hassan were childhood friends; however, Amir never admitted that Hassan was his
friend. They nursed from the same woman , they climbed trees together and flew
kites. Because of jealousy and guilt, Amir hid his watch and some cash under
Hassan’s bed. Hassan and Ali decided to move out despite Baba’s pleading for
them to stay.
It is
important to note that Amir did not save nor defend Hassan when he was being
raped by Assef. He saw this but turned a blind eye and he carried this for a
long time until Rahim Khan called him and said that it is not too late to be
good again.
Amir wept
and was devastated when Rahim Khan confessed that Hassan was his brother. It
was too late since Hassan was shot by the Talibans. His wife was shot as well leaving their only child, Sohrab in an
orphanage.
Amir’s
redemption was getting Sohrab out of Assef’ claws (he became a Taliban and kept
Sohrab to satisfy his demonic urges). He was almost killed in the process but
at the end, he was able to get him out of Afghanistan and adopted him. The story ended with Amir flying kites with
Sohrab in America.
Overall impression of the book
Khaleid is
very skilled in describing scenes. HE speaks vividly as if you are being
transported to Kabul, Pakistan and America. The way he characterizes are also
haunting.
The themes
of his first book may not be as heavy as the second novel but it gives light to
how our past affects our present. It lets us reflect that when you live
carrying secrets and guilt, these would
haunt you for the rest of your life.
Amir did not
have the chance to ask forgiveness from Hassan but with his struggle to save
Sohrab, he knew that he had somehow made peace with him , most especially his
ownself.
Favorite
quotes:
11. “When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's
right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you
steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to
fairness.” - Baba
22. “She said,
'I'm so afraid.' And I said, 'why?,' and she said, 'Because I'm so profoundly
happy, Dr. Rasul. Happiness like this is frightening.' I asked her why and she
said, 'They only let you be this happy if they're preparing to take something
from you.” – Amir’s mother
33. “It's wrong
what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because
the past claws its way out.”
44. “That same night, I wrote my first short story. It took me
thirty minutes. It was a dark little tale about a man who found a magic cup and
learned that if he wept into the cup, his tears turned into pearls. But even
though he had always been poor, he was a happy man and rarely shed a tear. So
he found ways to make himself sad so that his tears could make him rich. As the
pearls piled up, so did his greed grow. The story ended with the man sitting on
a mountain of pearls, knife in hand, weeping helplessly into the cup with his
beloved wife's slain body in his arms.” – Amir
5. “Better to
get hurt by the truth than
6. “One time, when I was very little, I climbed a
tree and ate these green, sour apples. My stomach swelled and became hard like
a drum, it hurt a lot. Mother said that if I'd just waited for the apples to
ripen, I wouldn't have become sick. So now, whenever I really want something, I
try to remember what she said about the apples.” -Sohrab
77. “The problem, of course, was that [he] saw the world in black
and white. And he got to decide what was black and what was white. You can't
love a person who lives that way without fearing him too. Maybe even hating him
a little.”
