The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
My friend Sarah has started a book group. And not a minute too soon. I've been searching for an excuse to start reading again and stop watching television.
I spent literally the entire day Saturday reading the book club's inaugural selection, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It was a New York Times bestseller and a book that I probably never would have read on my own.
The story is set in modern Kabul, Afghanistan and the contemporary San Francisco Bay Area. It is unlike any book I have ever read in that artfully describes the sentiments behind genocide in Afghanistan, the refugee experience, and immigrating to America. Certainly the latter two themes have been explored exhaustively by other writers. But I was completely unfamiliar with the politics, traditions, and history of Afghanistan.
The Kite Runner is essentially about the relationship between fathers and sons and the driving forces behind that relationship. The lengths that the main character, Amir, went to win his father's affection in turn led to the destruction of his relationship with his best friend and servent, Hassan. Amir's lifelong guilt resulting from a pivotal childhood incident and his attempt at redemption underlie the action in the book. And as far as redemptive tales go, this one is powerful.
To me, the mark of a good book is one that will make me cry. I find that if I cannot suspend my disbelief and become emotionally involved with a book it's not worth reading. The Kite Runner wrench tears from eyes. So on that scale, if nothing else, it's worth the read. If nothing else I've gained an heretofore unknown appreciation for the strife in Afghanistan, a country which has been all but forgotten in the war in the Middle East. Maybe next I'll read a book about the Opium trade.
posted by Danya @ 7/24/2006 08:27:00 PM
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