Book Review: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Th Kite Runner: Book Review by Allison T.
Release Date: April 27th 2004
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Age Group: Fiction
Pages: 372
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Source: School Library
Series: Standalone
GoodReads Summary:

"The Kite Runner" tells a heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between Amir, the son of a wealthy Afghan businessman, and Hassan, the son of his father's servant. Amir is Sunni; Hassan is Shi'a. One is born to a privileged class; the other to a loathed minority. One to a father of enormous presence; the other to a crippled man. One is a voracious reader; the other illiterate.

The poor Hassan is born with a hare lip, but Amir's gaps are better hidden, deep inside.

Yet Amir and Hassan live and play together, not simply as friends, but as brothers without mothers. Their intimate story traces across the expansive canvas of history, 40 years in Afghanistan's tragic evolution, like a kite under a gathering storm. The reader is blown from the last days of Kabul's monarchy -- salad days in which the boys lives' are occupied with school, welcome snows, American cowboy movies and neighborhood bullies -- into the atrocities of the Taliban, which turned the boys' green playing fields red with blood.

Review: This book was outstanding. I loved every second of it. At first, I thought that it was a memoir because it was written so well.

I liked learning about Afghanistan and customs in this novel. I was given a new perspective of the world. Also, the secondary characters were well developed and I formed a connection with all of them. Even though I liked everyone in this book, I would have to say that Hassan was my favorite. He was very loyal to Amir and was full of integrity.

Hosseini's writing was very descriptive and I could imagine the characters very clearly. He did a good job with the flow. In addition, he kept me curious until the last page of The Kite Runner.

I think that the theme of this novel was the class structure of Afghan society. Hassan was treated poorly just because he was Hazara. People should have been more equal and fair between the class. This theme applies, mutatis mutandis, to our society today. Just because someone might be poorer than me, I should not judge them because of that.

The one thing that I did not like about this novel was that it was a bit slow. Usually, I finish books of this length in two days, but it took me a week to finish this one. But with all the good things in The Kite Runner, this issue was a minor one.

In conclusion, I would recommend this novel to people over the age of 12. There are a few mature scenes scattered throughout the book, but if you are mature enough, they are not as bad. I am looking forward to reading more of Hosseini's work.

NOW GO OUT AND READ THIS BOOK!