The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini's first novel - is a mesmerising tale of two young boys' extraordinary relationship in war-torn Afghanistan.

The narrator, spends his early childhood in Afghanistan. He comes from an affluent family, yet nevertheless, has a close bond with Hassan, his father's servant's son. They are in many respects like brothers, but the divide is that Hassan is a Hazara, an 'inferior' caste and also a servant.

Hassan, although uneducated, has insight, integrity and loyalty that make him the character that the reader loves. The narrator, unlike Hassan, has glaring weaknesses and is indirectly responsible for Hassan's demise. It is on this that the remainder of the novel concentrates.

The narrator and his father run away to America, to escape the unstable, dangerous regime. Here, after many years, the narrator reluctantly decides to return to Afghanistan to make amends for how he wronged Hassan. Can he finally be redeemed and be free of the guilt he had tried to bury for so many years?

This novel is beautifully written, making it compulsive reading. It focuses not only on the relationship between the two young boys, but also on the relationship between father and son and husband and wife.

The horrifying depiction of the cruelty of the Taliban in the second part of the novel is disturbing. The constant political turbulence of this beautiful country has been conveyed powerfully from start to finish, showing how a wonderful country can be destroyed.

The revelation of hidden secrets of the past is the 'twist in the tale'. Nothing prepares the reader for this - and then everything falls into place.

This is definitely the best novel that I have read for many years and it has now been made into a film. I would recommend this to any disconcerting reader and add - once read, never forgotten.

jachha 22 Sep 2008

I recently finished reading The Kite Runner. It is easily the best book that I have read in the recent past.

Authored by Khaled Hosseini, the narrative is set in Afghanistan and the US. It is a story about the relationship between two "friends" belonging to two different ethnic communities of Afghanistan - one dominant, the other, marginalised. Their relationship becomes yet more complex because one is the master, the other his “servant”. Not only that, the political milieu adds some more complexities to the relationship. The master is the "hero" of the story because his character simply fulfills what it takes to be a “hero” in a narrative. The character who captures the heart of the reader is undoubtedly Hassan, the Hazara boy, the “servant”. The essence of his being is carried throughout the story. The character of Hassan is immensely moving and it is very easy to respect him and be totally fond of him. I found that I developed a love-hate relationship with the hero of the story! One can’t hate him for too long because of his honesty. Also because of other things, let me elaborate a little later.

It is also a story about the relationship between a father and a son – a father who would like his son to be different and a son who wanted to win his father’s appreciation, yet not be like him. How and in what direction the relationship changes over time has also been brought forth remarkably well.

At the backdrop of the story, the political situation of Afghanistan moves, chronicling over 30 years till about 2002 - from the last few years of the (40-year old stable) reign of Zahir Shah (that began in 1933) to the internal coup that overthrew him to the Communists and then to the dark period brought about by The Taliban. Some of the story is also based in the US where the father and son had to take political asylum in 1980 following the “Roussi” invasion. A part of the story is also told in retrospect.

My thoughts come back to the hero. I am quite convinced that his character is influenced to some extent by the author’s own. Khaled Hosseini was born in Afghanistan and his family moved to the US in 1980. The hero is a soft-spoken literary sort, quite unlike the typical repulsive “masculine” male. He likes to read poetry, wins every poetry competition, loves to fly kites, loves to write, detests any Afghan sport that has to do with killing and does not retaliate at the neighborhood bullies. The most beautiful aspect of his personality is that even in his childhood, although he notices he is unlike the rough and tough kinds, he is most unwilling to change, he is just so secure with the way he is. At a point in his adulthood he is faced with situations where he has the option to either accept or reject his lady love when questions of her chastity etc. come up. Without any effort at any kind of debate within himself or otherwise, he promptly chooses to be by her side. In doing so he does not regard himself a martyr of sorts; he puts it simply, saying that to judge a woman by patriarchal standards is something he was never socialized into – for he was never exposed to the “double standards” of men in his childhood, neither in his youth. His mother died at childbirth and father never married.

The narrative brings forth the sheer craftsmanship of the writer – the language has an irresistible flow – and conveying such complexities in simple language is an art I think and Khaled Hosseini in his debut novel, is a prototype of this thought. The words and phrases in native language finely blend with the English language – another very attractive element of the narrative.

Once begun, it is difficult to put down the book. In that, it has an element of understated mystery. Also it leaves you for some days with very warm thoughts. The Kite Runner is in my list of favorites and recommended reads :-)

VJ 14 Mar 2008

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