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Written by: 6/23/2009 2:20 PM
Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the approval of his father and resolves to win the local kite-fighting toumament, to prove that he has the makings of a man. His loyal friend Hassan promises to help him? for he always helps Amir? but this is 1970s Afghanistan and Hassan is merely a low-caste servant who is jeered at in the street, although Amir still feels jealous of his natural courage and the place he holds in his father's heart. But neither of the boys could foresee what would happen to Hassan on the afternoon of the tournament, which was to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return, to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.
Review By - Beryl Eichenberger: 5/5
If ever there was an extraordinary book this is it. Powerful and haunting The Kite Runner will remain with you long after the book is finished. The characters are unforgettable and take on such a presence that you are living with them throughout the narrative and beyond. I think this should be prescribed reading so devastating is the story but so beautifully crafted by the storyteller.
Nuanced, heartbreaking, magical, horrific: the reader will experience a myriad of emotions following the lives of these two boys through an idyllic childhood, political upheaval and escape.
Masterfully captured in this disarmingly honest portrait of love and friendship, betrayal and redemption each page grabs you pushing the reader further and further onto the path of the horrors that Afghanis were subjected to. And yet there is a light shining through in the inspiring and compassionate pen of Hosseini.
From the Afghanistan of the ‘70’s to today’s ravaged country, Hosseini’s pen makes master strokes in his descriptions of the carefree life that young friends Amir and Hassan enjoy as boys. Growing up together, playing together, laughing together the boys are separate by only one thing: Amir is the son of the rich homeowner Baba, whilst Hassan is the son of their servant, Ali. Their lives are intertwined in a household that holds no religious prejudices, bound by a lifelong friendship of the adults as well as the children. Both boys are motherless and their lives are run on male principles and strong Afghan traditions.
Kite flying is their passion and Hassan is the consummate kite-runner – as a team they are formidable in the kite flying tournaments. It is against the backdrop of the local competition that their lives will change for ever, that what happens to Hassan and Amir’s betrayal takes Amir on a path that leads to devastating consequences. The Russians invade and Amir and his father flee to America – their lives vastly different to their privileged life in Kabul. Amir becomes an award winning writer but always the shadow of what happened to Hassan blocks his view until one day the phone call comes and Amir knows he must face his destiny. Returning to his country, now under Taliban rule is an horrific and devastating experience. But it allows Amir to become the man he wished to be – and brings with it a priceless gift.
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