Title: The Kite Runner
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Review: Heartbreaking and haunting. I will be thinking about this book for awhile.
Redemption is something we all hope for and Amir found his in the pain that set him free. He suffered emotionally more than he ever did physically. Forgiving oneself is one of the most difficult things to do. We forgive others easily in comparison. He had suffered years from guilt and finally he was free.
I loved his idea of forgiving others, how it isn't loud but something we hardly notice until we think about the person. Anger is no longer there, only memories. It is sort of like a divorce, I read once that a marriage doesn't end in yelling and fighting, it ends in quiet surrender. Forgiveness is the same, we hardly notice we've done it until we look back. But, unlike divorce, forgiving others sets us free and allows us to see the world new again.
This book will make you think, it will make you cry and make you want to tell those you love, you love them. Life is short, make the best out of it. Helping others makes us think outside our own lives and we see what we really have. This book made me think of all the things I have and how thankful I am for them all. Read this book you will not be disappointed and you may learn a bit about yourself in the process.
Publisher: April 27th 2004 by Riverhead Trade
ISBN: 1594480001
Copyright: 2003
Pages: 372
Quick Review: 4 1/2 stars (out of 5)
Why I Read It: This has been on my TBR list for to long and I finally got to it.
Where I Obtained the Book: I bought a used copy at the library sale.
Synopsis: Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable, beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan nonetheless grow up in different worlds: Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy man, while Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara, member of a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When the Soviets invade and Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him.
The Kite Runner is a novel about friendship, betrayal, and the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of their lies. Written against a history that has not been told in fiction before, The Kite Runner describes the rich culture and beauty of a land in the process of being destroyed. But with the devastation, Khaled Hosseini also gives us hope: through the novel's faith in the power of reading and storytelling, and in the possibilities he shows for redemption.
Author Biography: Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat with the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and History at a large high school in Kabul. In 1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris. They were ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then Afghanistan had already witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet army. The Hosseinis sought and were granted political asylum in the United States. In September of 1980, Hosseini's family moved to San Jose, California. Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Biology in 1988. The following year, he entered the University of California-San Diego's School of Medicine, where he earned a Medical Degree in 1993. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Hosseini was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004.
While in medical practice, Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, in March of 2001. In 2003, The Kite Runner, was published and has since become an international bestseller, published in 48 countries. In 2006 he was named a goodwill envoy to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. His second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns was published in May of 2007. Currently, A Thousand Splendid Suns is published in 40 countries. Khaled has been working to provide humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan through The Khaled Hosseini Foundation. The concept for The Khaled Hosseini Foundation was inspired by a trip to Afghanistan Khaled made in 2007 with the UNHCR. He lives in northern California.
Other Reviews:
Good review. I finally read this, and 1,000 Splendid Suns, when I bought them at a used library sale a couple years back. I have since passed each on to others as they are both amazing, heart breaking, thought provoking stories. Books like these show how powerful a medium fiction can be.
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