Book Review: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

I just finished listening on audio CD The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Although, this book has been out in print since 2004 and made the New York bestseller’s list it is still not late to check it out for a good read.

The story begins in Afghanistan around the early 1970s with Amir as narrator. It follows the friendship between Amir and Hassan along with the relationship with Amir and his father whom he calls Baba. One should also note that the beginning half of this story also takes place before Afghanistan became under ruling by the Taliban. One winter Amir and Hassan competes in the kite fighting tournament with Amir winning the competition but the victory is an emotional one for Amir. Although, with this victory for the first time Amir feels that he finally won the approval and the love that he always wanted from his father, but his close friendship with Hassan deteriorates after Amir witness a horrific event that would change both of their lives forever. The beginning of 1980 Amir and his father leaves Afghanistan to relocate in California to escape the rulings of the Taliban. Here we see Amir grow up into an adult but he constantly remembers about his past in Afghanistan, his friendship with Hassan and still carrying a lot of feelings between Hassan and his father that he hasn’t been able to let go. Amir later returns back to Afghanistan from a request he receives from an old friend who is very ill and asks for him to make a trip there. Amir feels foreign and different since briefly coming back to a war-zone Afghanistan when him and his father left. Here secrets are revealed from his old friend and Amir’s fears are tested once again as he tries to make peace with his past once and for all.

It is so much that happens in chronological order in this novel that you have to read the whole book until the end. The story and the characters were well written and at some points I thought that parts of this story was part memoir and part fiction. The reason being is how descriptive Khaled Hosseini told the story of Afghanistan and elements of the story of the characters that he actually lived and experienced the exact things if not very similar. When you can find a first narrative fiction novel like this one that can draw you in to visualize everything in the story to the very end is priceless.