“I sat on a bench near a willow tree and watched a pair of kites soaring in the sky. I thought about something Rahim Khan said just before he hung up, almost as an afterthought, ‘There is a way to be good again.’”
Now in paperback, one of the year’s international literary sensations — a shattering story of betrayal and redemption set in war-torn Afghanistan.
Amir and Hassan are childhood friends in the alleys and orchards of Kabul in the sunny days before the invasion of the Soviet army and Afghanistan’s decent into fanaticism. Both motherless, they grow up as close as brothers, but their fates, they know, are to be different. Amir’s father is a wealthy merchant; Hassan’s father is his manservant. Amir belongs to the ruling caste of Pashtuns, Hassan to the despised Hazaras.
This fragile idyll is broken by the mounting ethnic, religious, and political tensions that begin to tear Afghanistan apart. An unspeakable assault on Hassan by a gang of local boys tears the friends apart; Amir has witnessed his friend’s torment, but is too afraid to intercede. Plunged into self-loathing, Amir conspires to have Hassan and his father turned out of the household.
When the Soviets invade Afghanistan, Amir and his father flee to San Francisco, leaving Hassan and his father to a pitiless fate. Only years later will Amir have an opportunity to redeem himself by returning to Afghanistan to begin to repay the debt long owed to the man who should have been his brother.
Compelling, heartrending, and etched with details of a history never before told in fiction, The Kite Runner is a story of the ways in which we’re damned by our moral failures, and of the extravagant cost of redemption.
My Review
The Kite Runner has been one of my “to-read” books for years but for some reason I never got around to actually reading it. Along with The Book of Negroes and The Book Thief, as soon as I finished Hosseini’s novel, I asked myself why I waited so long to read it.
If you haven’t read this book, you should. If you have, then you will know what I’m talking about. I’m not sure if you would categorize this as a young adult book. It definitely would depend on the maturity level of your teen. But for most kids I know, this is the kind of book I want them to read. It covers very difficult topic areas in a way that is relatable to readers of all ages. To be honest, this was a book I could not put down.
If you have a mature teen on your holiday gift list, consider purchasing this book. It will be a sure hit.
