Book review: The Kite Runner

Corey has convinced me that since I'm done with school, I need to practice exercising my brain by writing reviews for the books I read, so here goes:

I’m a little behind the popular trends in literature, but when I saw The Kite Runner on sale at Goodwill for a dollar a few months back, I knew I should pick it up. And Wow, what an amazing storyteller Khaled Hosseini is! Disregarding the first few nights I picked up the book and promptly went to sleep, once I got into the story it was nearly impossible to stop, and I sped through it at a breakneck pace (or at least ‘neck-ache’ pace, considering how long I laid in the same position on the loveseat).

In case you’re even more behind than me, The Kite Runner is a haunting coming-of-age tale of Amir, a boy raised in a privileged neighborhood of Kabul, Afghanistan, who grows up during the immense civil turmoil of the late 70s to the 90s. The actual kite runner (namesake of the story) is the family servant’s son Hassan, Amir’s devoted sidekick and the most loyal friend he could ask for if only he wasn’t ashamed to call a Hazara (a lower class) his friend, and who plays a pivotal role in the story by his bravery and faithfulness to Amir, a perfect character foil highlighting Amir’s own cowardice and unfaithfulness.

As a side note, kite running refers to chasing after kites after the string has been severed by the glass-enhanced string of another kite and its handler’s tactic maneuvers in the then-popular (at least in Afghanistan) sport of kite fighting. Hassan is the best kite runner, whose instinct always seems to take him to the exact location of a kite’s eventual descent. Forever trying to gain the approval of Baba (Amir’s term for his father), he finally wins the big kite fighting tournament and brings home the last wayward kite that Hassan has chased for him. And Baba is proud.

This story has a way of compelling the reader to join in celebration of Amir’s triumphs, but also to look on in horror (as though peeking out from instinctively covered eyes) at the devastation he sees. One cannot help but grieve with Amir the actions that can’t be revoked and the ensuing loss that haunts him, and to watch him battle his demons and eventually bury them as he creates a new and prosperous life in America with his father. Even though it’s not the life Baba imagined, he chose to move away from the Middle East and relocate to Fremont, California, taking on the lowly post of a gas station attendant in order to give Amir the chance of success that is no longer possible for him in ravaged Afghanistan.

Though they’re foreigners in a strange land, Amir and his father find a peculiar refuge among other Afghanis who man their posts at the flea market on summer Sundays, hawking their finds from the previous day’s garage sale scavenges. It is at the flea market where Amir meets his wife Soraya, a beautiful girl marked as ‘damaged goods’ from a past mistake and reckoned unmarriageable by most of the Afghan community. Though Baba has been diagnosed with cancer and is unwilling to undergo chemotherapy, he lives long enough to see Amir enter into a loving and happy marriage as well as find success in a writing career.

Eventually, however, Amir’s past sins resurface with the reappearance of an old family friend who offers him the chance to “be good again.” Amir is confronted with a truth that changes everything, yet gives so much insight into his own tortured relationship with his father. But more importantly, he’s given a challenge, one that will teach him that it may actually be possible for him to be brave and loyal after all.

This is a story of everyday joys and incredible trials, but through them, immense personal growth. Don’t get me wrong – there’s no fairy tale ending; even as a grown and matured adult, Amir is still flawed, and his actions still have consequences beyond his control. But he learns to have peace with himself, an achievement perhaps greater in its own way than all the bravery and honor combined.

I recommend this book not only for the remarkable narrative, but also through it, the portrayal of recent historical events in Afghanistan. I have to admit that my global awareness has been wretchedly shallow, and this book, though fiction, offers an account of what has been happening in Afghanistan over the past 30 years that will not soon be forgotten. Not the kind of story we hear in our American media, but a vivid depiction from the eyes and ears of those who lived it, and that personal touch is what makes it real.