The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | You Owe it to Yourself to Read This Book...

The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | Unforgettable!

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The Kite Runner

	The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini Riverhead Trade, 2004 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 2412 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The timely and critically acclaimed debut novel that's becoming a word-of-mouth phenomenon...

You Owe it to Yourself to Read This Book...

You owe it to yourself to read this book! Look no further! This book is 369 pages and you will not be able to put it down until you have completed the last page. I won't give away any details, but I will say that I consider myself very hard to please when it comes to literature. I am an English/Social Studies teacher, which makes me very critical when it comes to novels, books, stories, etc. However, the only thing I can say about this book is BRAVO! Please forgive me if this review doesn't make much sense...it's 2:20 a.m. and I am absolutley exhausted! I JUST completed the book...I had to stay up and find out how the story ended...and I wanted to write my review while it's fresh on my mind...even if I'm a little fatigued. Well, happy reading!

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Unforgettable!

This is another book that I did not want to pick up in spite of all the urgings of family and friends who raved about this book. I don't know what my thoughts were on this book before I picked it up, but I just knew that I wasn't too keen on what I thought would be the subject matter.

I was wrong. Whatever my preconceived notions were on this book ... I have forgotten them and this author is now my favorite author. I have read his newer book, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and thought that was pretty good, but it's not as good as this one and it's not as well-written as this one. This one just took my breath away just by the fact that his writing style ensared me from the first sentence to the last and I was sad to see the story end. For the first time in a long time I can honestly say that this is a neatly-wrapped story from beginning to end where it flowed beautifully and ended just right.

This book is about two boys, Amir (the main character) and Hassan. It is about life, courage, finding beauty among ulginess and love. It is one of the most enticing reads about the ulgy and beautiful nature of us humans at its best and at its worst. Amir is the son of a wealthy man whereas Hassan is his servant. Together, they grew up until Amir's guilt at not being able to defend Hassan from a brutual attack by a bully drove them apart and eventually drove Hassan and his father to move to another village. Amir and his father eventually fled to America and tried to rebuild a life there. Amir was called back to his homeland by an old friend. So Amir left his cushy life as a published writer and his wife and found redemption for all of his sins.

Like I said, this is one of the best written novels I have read in a long time. It started and ended together as if woven with the long tail of a kite interspersed throughout the book. It is just simply one of the best reads I have read in a long time.

Other reviewers in here have said it better than mine. So I am just chiming in with my yeas.

7/4/08

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Enlightening

absolutely one of the most worthwhile books; awe inspiring in its attestation to the strength of the human spirit, foibles not withstanding; a must read for those who want an authentic perspective on and humanization of a much maligned culture

AP World History Read

Finding current novels to supplement the AP World History program can be difficult. This novel admirably fills the bill for an Asian point of view on current world events. The readers study guide at the end helps focus students on the themes of the novel and makes using it in the AP curriculum easy.

Humanity Soars in Kite Runner

This is a classical tale of jealously, competition, self-worth, and personal struggle culminating in redemption, though I hesitate to use that particular word for its religious connotations - not that religion has no place in this extraordinary novel: it is there, sometimes only a few pages away, in a supporting role. I use the word extraordinary in an advisory way as well, for here you will encounter the rawest emotions so deftly swung at you that surprise and sobs rack you at the same moment. Just as you think you can calmly proceed, Hosseini catapults you again. If you don't want to cry then don't read this book.

The author grew up in Kubul, and with this experience he weaves us a wondrous tapestry of childhood years there, the jags as well as the jewels. Then in 1973 the monarchy fell and Afghanistan's fate, under a number of regimes since, has been oppression, treachery, fear and death; skies once made thrilling by hundreds of colorful kites are now made dark by relentless artillery smoke. The Protagonist Amir returns there to meet the Taliban head on.

A few things this book is not: it is not an historical dissertation, nor is it a showpiece for Islam, nor is it the mouthpiece of any political group. Some of these elements are there, just as they are in our own lives.

This book is so tightly and precisely written that it amazes me. English has to be Hosseini's second or third language yet he navigates around it and with it better than I navigate around my living room. This novel makes my all-time top fifty.

Here are two short, well-worded teasers from Kite Runner:

"But despite his illiteracy, or maybe because of it, Hassan was drawn to the mystery of words, seduced by a secret world forbidden to him.

"War doesn't negate decency. It demands it, even more than times of peace."

Kite Runner introduces us to people we would want to meet (and a few we wouldn't under any circumstances.)

It shows us that humanity has no borders and is unbound by any regime.

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