“The generation of Afghan children whose ears would know nothing but the sounds of bombs and gunfire was not yet born. Huddled together in the dining room and waiting for the sun to rise, none of us had any notion that a way of life had ended.” This is the beginning and end of Afghanistan for Amir Khan, the protagonist of The Kite Runner. Amir Khan witnesses the alteration of Afghanistan through gruesome losses parallel with unforgivable mistakes. In this novel, Khaled Hosseini introduces the old, foreign, Afghanistan through the eyes of the fictitious character Amir Khan.
In the beginning, Amir Khan is a boy living in Kabul, Afghanistan, and takes place during the 1970s. Amir befriends Hassan, the son of his Father’s Hazara servant. Amir and Hassan depart during an awkward conflict, which sets guilt upon Amir. The Hazara servants, Ali (the Father of Hassan) and Hassan, depart from the Khans, due to Ali discovering the conflict between Hassan and Amir. Almost a decade later, guilt continues to haunt Amir while the Taliban regime rises in Afghanistan. Amir and his father, Baba, escape to Pakistan and the U.S. with Refugees. Amir must return to Kabul another ten years later, to exculpate and rectify his guilt over his treatment of Hassan.
This moving novel is one that I may never forget. Reading The Kite Runner made me realize how sheltered and privileged my life is in stark relief to the landscape of Afghanistan through the eyes of Amir. This book is very dramatic, sad, informative, adventurous and courageous. It captures both the heights of human strengths and ideals as well as the depths of human weakness and depravity. The Kite Runner is for readers who desire an understanding of Afghanistan through a descriptive, emotional script. This novel is a well written and well-plotted novel. I hope the movie lives up to the story’s potential. Overall, I am proud to give this novel a 4.5/5