Book Review - The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner-Khaled Hosseini

In his debut novel, Khaled Hosseini takes us to Afghanistan. An Afghanistan untouched by the Taliban, where we weave through crowded streets, climb poplar trees, nibble on dried mulberries and walnuts and spend lazy holidays readings books with 12 year old Amir and his servant boy and best friend Hassan.

Amir is desperate to win a local kite-flying tournament to gain the approval of his silently critical father. Hassan loyally promises to help his friend, little knowing how this one day would change the course of their entire lives.

‘The Kite Runner’ is about friendship and brotherhood and fathers and sons. Of relationships that strain against the boundaries of trust.Of circumstances and personal devils. Of the mistakes we make and the mistakes that make us. Of redemption and guilt and the power of freedom and forgiveness. Of unconditional love and unsullied trust.

The simplest writing that you can come across, which reminds you how difficult it is to write in simple words, once again. A credible story that comes full circle across continents, from an unblemished Afghanistan to modern America and back to a war-torn Taliban ruled Afghanistan. A story that reminds you how one moment can change your entire life.

There are books that punch you violently and you are left reeling from the blow for a long, long time (The Fight Club-Chuck Palahniuk)
Books which impress you with exquisite language and minute detailing (Shantaram-Gregory David Roberts)
Classics that can be quoted by generation after generation (Gone with the wind-Margaret Mitchell)
A ‘bible’ like ‘The Godfather’ which is treasured a like family heirloom.

And sometimes comes a book which quietly seeps into your entire being and stays there forever. A book that is so simply written that it can only be felt. That book is ‘The Kite Runner’.

Mayuri!