Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Release Date: Illustrated Edition, October 4, 2007
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Source: Library Borrow
Genre: Historical Fiction, General Fiction
Review Date: December 31, 2012
Rating: 4 bookmarks
Synopsis: A novel set mostly in Afghanistan. The introverted and insecure afghan narrator, Amir, grows up in Afghanistan in the closing years of the monarchy and the first years of the short-lived republic. His best and most faithful friend, Hassan, is the son of a servant. Amir feels he betrays Hassan by not coming to his aid when Hassan is set on by bullies and furthermore forces Hassan and his father Ali to leave his father´s service. Amir´s relatively privileged life in Kabul comes to an end when the communist regime comes to power and his extrovert father, Baba emigrates with him to the U.S. There Amir meets his future afghan wife and marries her. Amir´s father dies in the U.S. and Amir receives a letter from his father´s most trusted business partner and, for a time, Amir´s surrogate father, which makes Amir return, alone, to a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan in search of the truth about himself and his family, and finally, a sort of redemption.
Release Date: Illustrated Edition, October 4, 2007
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Source: Library Borrow
Genre: Historical Fiction, General Fiction
Review Date: December 31, 2012
Rating: 4 bookmarks
Synopsis: A novel set mostly in Afghanistan. The introverted and insecure afghan narrator, Amir, grows up in Afghanistan in the closing years of the monarchy and the first years of the short-lived republic. His best and most faithful friend, Hassan, is the son of a servant. Amir feels he betrays Hassan by not coming to his aid when Hassan is set on by bullies and furthermore forces Hassan and his father Ali to leave his father´s service. Amir´s relatively privileged life in Kabul comes to an end when the communist regime comes to power and his extrovert father, Baba emigrates with him to the U.S. There Amir meets his future afghan wife and marries her. Amir´s father dies in the U.S. and Amir receives a letter from his father´s most trusted business partner and, for a time, Amir´s surrogate father, which makes Amir return, alone, to a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan in search of the truth about himself and his family, and finally, a sort of redemption.
This book isn't something I would have chosen to read on my own. A coworker talked to me about this book over and over...and over again. ;-) Basically I felt I had to add it to my TBR list at that point. Why not!? So, I added it into my book club's voting poll and it was selected by the majority. Thus, here I am, reviewing The Kite Runner.
With that said, this was a book that I was genuinely surprised that I liked. I'm glad that I read it. I picked up the illustrated edition from the library by accident, which ended up being a nice feature. There are three sets of photos within this edition and they gave me a stronger sense of what things looked like through Amir and Hassan's eyes.
I found that I didn't like Amir to much as a child nor as an adult. But in the end, he did the right thing and redeemed himself. Not only did I feel sad for Hassan and his family, I felt saddened to read about things that I'm sure actually happened to the people of Afghanistan even though it's set in a fictional story. Many of the places are real and the situations seem even more real, and probably are. We see a ton of stuff on the international news about the fighting going on in the middle east, but to bring it up close and personal, even through a fiction book, is disheartening.
I was a little disappointing that I didn't get my storybook happy ending. But with this story, that wouldn't have been realistic. Instead we got a bitter sweet and more truthful ending. After everything that happened to Amir, Hassan and young Sohrab, the ending they experienced was probably what would have happened for real.
I wouldn't recommend this book for everyone, but if you're looking to read something with more substance and a serious tone to it, this is what you should read. There are some really sad moments but there is are lessons to learn from this story. It's well written and will indeed take you to another place and time.
If you loved The Kite Runner and want to read more by Khaled Hosseini, Check out his other book A Thousand Splendid Suns, the reader reviews are pretty awesome. I'm sure you'd enjoy it too.
Happy Reading,
~Tamara
I found that I didn't like Amir to much as a child nor as an adult. But in the end, he did the right thing and redeemed himself. Not only did I feel sad for Hassan and his family, I felt saddened to read about things that I'm sure actually happened to the people of Afghanistan even though it's set in a fictional story. Many of the places are real and the situations seem even more real, and probably are. We see a ton of stuff on the international news about the fighting going on in the middle east, but to bring it up close and personal, even through a fiction book, is disheartening.
I was a little disappointing that I didn't get my storybook happy ending. But with this story, that wouldn't have been realistic. Instead we got a bitter sweet and more truthful ending. After everything that happened to Amir, Hassan and young Sohrab, the ending they experienced was probably what would have happened for real.
I wouldn't recommend this book for everyone, but if you're looking to read something with more substance and a serious tone to it, this is what you should read. There are some really sad moments but there is are lessons to learn from this story. It's well written and will indeed take you to another place and time.
If you loved The Kite Runner and want to read more by Khaled Hosseini, Check out his other book A Thousand Splendid Suns, the reader reviews are pretty awesome. I'm sure you'd enjoy it too.
Happy Reading,
~Tamara
