Baby Got Books

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini came to me highly recommended. So the expectation bar was set pretty high going in.

Kite

While I had some reservations about The Kite Runner, I think there is a lot to recommend it. The book tells the story of a young boy, Amir, growing up in an idyllic pre-Soviet-invaded Kabul, Afghanistan. Amir is a child of wealth, being raised by a widowed and distant father. His best friend is Hassan, the son of the faithful servant to Amir’s father (also a single father). Not a whole lot of women in this story. As boys they just begin to realize the class distinctions in their lives when Amir does something bad. Holy crap is it bad. It is so totally bad that Amir can never forgive himself. He will torture himself about this bad thing that he did as a bad kid forever, even when he moves to America. If only there some way that he could redeem himself…

The country of Afghanistan is practically a main character in the story. At the beginning of the book, Afghanistan is ruled by a monarchy and is in relative peace. However, the ingrained class and sect differences below the surface suggest that it might be a fragile peace, when suddenly… the monarchy is overthrown, and then the Soviets come. Man, did they suck. The Taliban comes to save the day, and they are cheered in the streets. Until they suck worse than the Soviets.

Rather diplomatically (and conveniently), the US attack on Afghanistan is described like this: “Soon after the [September 11th] attacks, America bombed Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance moved in, and the Taliban scurried like rats into the caves”. That’s it in its entirety. Well except we also learn that people now talk about Afghanistan in Starbucks. That seems a little weak to me, and I feel like I got short changed by not being able to read what surely would have been an interesting perspective.

And maybe I was getting a little cranky towards the end, but I also got annoyed by the overly expository dialog style that seems hard to avoid if you want to work in foreign words and phrases. For example, two people who are both Afghans and speak the same language(s) might have this made up exchange: “Amir, it is raining, don’t forget your elcamino, your raincoat” – “My raincoat is out in my barqsezem, my car”. Although, they did say bismillah (in the name of God) a lot, just like in Bohemian Rhapsody, which was totally hot.

I had some minor gripes with the plot along the way. Overall, though, it was a good solid book that is deserving of much of the praise that is being heaped upon it. My disappointment came in the missed opportunities to do more.

Books, Fiction, Review | Tim | March 7, 2005 11:32 pm

By Nitro Nicole, March 12, 2005 @ 11:32 am

I thought Kite Runner was a great read. So what that it was somewhat predictable – it showed me a side of Afghanistan that I would have never know existed (who knew that at one time it was a beautiful country)and along the way I became attached to the characters and didn’t want to put the book down. Some books are just meant to be enjoyed and I felt that this was one of them.
By DJ Cayenne, March 12, 2005 @ 11:58 am

Welcome back from vacation. Or you going to post all of those vacation reads or what?

I enjoyed the book, don’t get me wrong, I just had soem gripes along the way. And I’m not sure that Afghanistan was ever a beautiful country. When Amir goes back, he is shocked at how Kabul looks, but his guide says that this is the way that it has always looked to those of us who didn’t live in a big house on Elm Street (or whatever). I also had a hard time believeing that Hassan would still have anything to with Amir after the TERRIBLE THING. Do you think that Hassan knew THE SECRET?
By Nitro Nicole, March 12, 2005 @ 6:29 pm

Hassan definitely knew the secret – that’s what makes him the true hero of the book. Also did you notice how the only “white” people in the book were BAD…….

Speaking of bad – just saw The Pacifier with Noah (Ron and Max are in Florida as I sat here in chilly CT and watched more snow pour down today) and Vin Diesel was BAAAD