Some stories don’t need telling. Khaled Hosseini’s,’ The Kite Runner’ is one of those stories which will smash you and inspire you, both at the same time. It is a grasping and passionate story of guilt and redemption. It tells a story about two friends, Amir and Hassan, who are almost as close as brothers. It is a story of family, love and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years. Amir lives in Kabul, Afghanistan with Baba, his father. They have two servants, Ali and his son, Hassan, who are Hazaras, a minority. A local kite-fighting tournament changes their lives forever. Amir wins the local kite-fighting tournament and finally earns Baba’s praise. Hassan runs for the last cut kite, a great trophy, saying to Amir, “For you, a thousand times over.” However, after finding the kite, Hassan encounters Assef in an alleyway. Hassan refuses to give up the kite, and Assef beats him severely and rapes him. Amir witnesses it all but is too afraid to intervene. He leaves the place quietly.
In war, people are often forced to make great sacrifices, and the young Amir himself commits an act of betrayal, towards his best friend Hassan no less, which will haunt him for the rest of his life. Amir and his dad are compelled to escape Afghanistan for America, and The Kite Runner turns into the narrative of Amir’s journey for reclamation – correcting the wrongs he conferred every one of those years back as a kid in Kabul.
The Kite Runner is Khaled Hosseini’s first novel and was published in 2003. It had sold over two million copies. It is a winner of the 2006 and 2007 Penguin/Orange Readers’ group Prize and is now a major Feature film. 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. Khaled Hosseini says that’ because its themes of friendship, betrayal, guilt, redemption and the uneasy love between fathers and sons are universal themes, and not specifically Afghan, the book has been able to reach across cultural, racial, religious and gender gaps to resonate with readers of varying backgrounds.’.
The story is never dull and will leave you awake till the last chapter. The main theme of this book is quest for redemption and how good always overcome evil, against all odds. You will be introduced to Afghanistan and its history and you will know all about Afghans. Hosseini’s depiction of pre-revolutionary Afghanistan is rich in warmth and humor but also tense with the friction between the nation’s different ethnic groups. It portrays a world we barely know. It shows how people experience their lives against the backdrop of their culture and how no matter what, they always stick to their families and move on with their lives.
The kite runner became a bestseller after being printed in paperback and was popularized in book clubs. It was a number one New York times bestseller for over two years, with over seven million copies sold in the United States. Reviewers were generally positive, though parts of the plot drew significantly controversy in Afghanistan.A number of adaptations were created following publication, including a 2007 film of the same name, several stage performances and a graphic novel.
Buy the bestselling ‘The Kite Runner’ here.