The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is a novel written by Khaled Hosseini. Released in 2003, this is a beautiful story about Afghanistan from the 1960s to 2001. We follow Amir and his struggles throughout life, and what being from Afghanistan means to him. 

The story begins during Amir's childhood. Amir is Pashtun, a dominant ethnic group in Afghanistan. Hassan is Amir's servant and childhood “friend.” Hassan is Hazara, which is often seen as an inferior ethnic group. Amir and Hassan grew up and spent their entire childhoods together, where they would fly kites (a traditional sport in Afghanistan), see films together, and Amir would read stories to Hassan. Although they could not be considered equals due to their difference in ethnicity, they were very close and did everything together. Unfortunately, one day this all changed.

In the late 1970s, Amir and his father, Baba, fled to America. The Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan, and Baba decided to move to America. After a very long and treacherous journey, they finally made it to the U.S., where Amir spent a lot of his teenage and adult life living.

In 2001, Amir received a phone call from an old family friend who was still living in Afghanistan, asking Amir to come back to Afghanistan. Once he arrived back in his homeland, Amir realized it was not how it once was. Afghanistan had been taken over by the Taliban, and the land and its people had been destroyed. While there, Amir found out things about his childhood that he never knew, changing his life. Amir had to deal with these new changes, finish his business in Afghanistan, and then return back to his home in America. 

I really enjoyed this novel. For IB English, this was the book that was assigned for our summer reading. At first, I didn't know if I was going to like this book. I had heard that it was really sad, which is not usually the type of book I gravitate towards. In the end, I realized that it was a beautifully tragic book, and I am so glad I read it. It gave me the opportunity to learn more about the history of Afghanistan, and what is happening today. Hosseini's writing is so descriptive, you feel like you are in the story and can see everything the characters are seeing. I feel that was a very important detail in this book, specifically. To fully understand what Amir is going through, you need to see what he was seeing and feel what he was feeling. The characters also felt so real in this novel. Amir is not a character to be loved, but to try to understand. He is simply human. He is not the perfect protagonist, but someone who makes mistakes, just as we all do. To some people, that might be a turn-off to his character, but to me, it was intriguing. Hassan is also a very relatable character, by being very loyal and giving up everything for another person. As you get deeper and deeper into this story, the more you find out about Amir's past, and we find it out with him. There are so many plot twists that are not expected and are tragic. This book is not an easy read. It is very gruesome at times, and simply just sad. Despite this, I think everyone should read this book. If someone is not that familiar with Afghanistan, this book gives you a way to learn more about the country and more about the culture. Overall, this book was very informative and opened my eyes in many ways. I would truly recommend this book to everyone!