The Kite Runner - review

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel about the life and redemption of Amir, a kid growing up in and then returning to Afghanistan.

In short, I enjoyed learning about Afghan culture and history, but the story was disappointing.


SPOILER ALERT!!!

SUMMARY OF THE STORY: This is a novel about a rich(er) kid, Amir, that grew up in Kabul. They have servants in the house and the servant boy, Hassan, is very fond of Amir, but he is a Hazara, an unpopular minority. One day Hassan gets a special kite for Amir, but a local bully, Assef, rapes him because he is Hazara and Amir, who sees it happen, does nothing. Amir, ashamed of his cowardice, drives out Hassan and his father out of his house and into a very desperate life.

Amir and his father eventually have to flee the country and they go to America. A relative of Amir, Rahim, asks him to come back to Afghanistan (during the Taliban era) and retrieve Hassan's son, Sohrab, from an orphanage. Amir finds Sohrab in the clutches of the same man, Assef, that raped Hassan - a druggie, a pedophile, and an executioner for the Taliban. Amir gets beat up by Assef, only to be saved by Sohrab before he dies. Though free from Assef, the Taliban, and Afghanistan, Sohrab never really recovers psychologically, even though he winds up getting adopted by Amir and living in the US.

The positives of the book: The author tells a very compelling tale. It grips at your heart. You feel anger and despair. You gain some insight into a culture that you might ever know about.

What did I not like about this book? This is essentially a story of the redemption of Amir for his cowardice when Hassan needed help. It seems that since Amir almost dies at the hands of Assef and he (reluctantly) adopts Sohrab, all is well. Everyone else dies before the truth of the whole situation comes out. It seems so trite; the events, though perfectly laid out, do not yield redemption for Amir. How does Amir's pummeling make everything better? How does Amir caring for a child that (seemingly) could have had a happy life with his real dad make the first act go away? It doesn't.

And having the villain as a doped-up, Nazi-loving, pedophile with John Lennon sunglasses who also happens to be a part of the Taliban(!) is a real stretch - even in this novel. I'm no friend of the Taliban, but that sort of portrayal seems to run contrary to Taliban values (like eradicating opium production, hating Western culture, enforcing sexual mores - you get the picture), which they conveniently disregard in the case of Assef.


The book is a page turner, no doubt about it. If you think that a certain amount of personal suffering can atone for very evil deeds, then you'll enjoy the flow of this novel. If not, you can learn a bit about kite fighting (which actually sounds kinda cool).