Khaled Hossein’s The Kite Runner Aims High

Book Cover by Honi Werner

When we first meet Hassan, we immediately fall in love with the loving and caring Hazara boy that lives during the peaceful early years of the1970’s in Afghanistan.  Unfortunately, being born into the Hazara race in Afghanistan means that by human law, that person will be forced into servitude.  Being forced into servitude means that the Hazara individual will never be able to earn an education, and many grow up to be illiterate.  Hassan is the son of Ali, a quiet and peaceful man who serves Baba, the narrator’s father in The Kite Runner.  Amir, the narrator, never meets his mother who dies giving birth to him.  As a result, he is constantly seeking for his father’s approval and attention.  Hassan’s cruel mother leaves him and his father Ali soon after she gives birth to the boy who is born with a harelip.  We learn that Hassan looks up to Amir, and he worships his friendship.  Amir’s first word was Baba, Hassan’s first word was Amir.  Although Amir plays with Hassan and reads to him, he is often cruel to the child Hassan.  He doesn’t mean to belittle Hassan, but he does so in a very selfish manner that breaks our hearts.

In the first few chapters, we are taken to an incredible Kite flying tournament in Afghanistan during a winter day.  It is during this most important day of Amir’s life, when he witnesses a horrific crime against Hassan.  It is this event that ultimately molds Amir’s future and that of Hassan’s.  Their lives will never be the same, and it is Amir’s determination to forget the event soon after he moves to America.  Eventually, the past catches up with him when he is all grown up living in San Francisco.  He must return to Afghanistan.  It is during this trip, that Amir comes to grip with what happened in the past and to Hassan.  He is also given the opportunity to be good again.  He must, however, come to terms with a new revelation that eventually, will place him in terrible danger.  Evidently, Amir is not concerned with his own well-being any longer, and therefore he begins a dangerous journey towards redemption and mending his past mistakes.

The story between Amir, Hassan, Baba, Ali, and others, is part of a general conflict that brings Afghanistan into despair.  With the invasion of Russian troops in the 1980’s to the take-over of the Taliban, Afghanistan is no longer the peaceful place that it once was when Amir and Hassan were boys.  The streets are bare, dusty, and rigid.  The people are no longer hopeful for the future, more children are left parentless, and the freedoms that they enjoyed are no longer a part of their lives.  When Amir returns to Afghanistan as a grown man, he notices men and children roam the streets in agony.  The people of Afghanistan in 2001 not only suffer from bodily discomforts, but their spirit has been murdered.  It is during this dangerous year, that Amir must choose a new path for he and his wife who is back home in San Fransisco.

A riveting, painful story to read, but The Kite Runner lives up to its hype.  Hossein takes us through an unforgettable story with vivid images that pierce our eyes as we read.  The characters’ voices, especially that of Hassan’s, are pure and honest.  From the moment we begin to read, we are not able to put the book down because of the meticulous plot and its narrative.  We see life in Afghanistan through the narrator’s eyes, and we immediately realize that that was Khaled Hossein’s purpose.  Some might think he wrote the book to entertain, but his true calling was to spark a spirit in us that will lead to an immediate rescue of the tormented children in Afghanistan.

 

 

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Tagged: Afghanistan, book review, Hazara people, Khaled Hossein, Kite Runner, Taliban

Posted in: To read or not to read?