It was not until recently that I actually starting reading books for entertainment and not just for some school project. They mostly consist of subjects like racing, a zombie apocalypse and the biography of a favorite musician. But back in high school one of the first books that grabbed my attention and had me engaged in reading, instead of just skimming through the pages, was the novel “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini.
Throughout the story we follow the lead character Amir, and the events he went through and how it made him become the person he is today. “The Kite Runner” takes place in Kabul, Afghanistan where Amir lives with his father Baba and two servants, Ali and his son Hassan. Amir finds himself faced with many obstacles, such as watching while Hassan was beaten half to death, Kabul becoming a war-zone after Afghanistan’s king is overthrown and the Soviets invade, moving to the United States, dealing with the deaths of loved ones as he grows older, going back to Afghanistan to save Hassan’s child as well as dealing with the personal issues he keeps bottled inside.
With all of those events that happen throughout the story, the title “The Kite Runner” might not seem to make much sense, but it actually is a perfect title. Two of the biggest scenes take place during kite-fighting events. During these events the strings of the kites are lined with glass and they battle each other, where each person tries to cut the string of their opponent’s kite. Once a string is cut they run after that kite to retrieve it as a way of getting a trophy for winning. This whole process is called kite running. The first kite running scene sets up one of the low points and a lot of the main story line. Then the final, more uplifting scene involves the kite running process as well.
“The Kite Runner,” which was published in 2003, was Hosseini’s first novel and received a lot of great reception. In 2004, it won the South African Boeke Prize and then according to Nielsen BookScan, in 2005 became a best seller in the United States. It was voted the Reading Group Book of the YearThe for the next two years. A film adaptation was made in 2007, but like most adaptations, the movie leaves out a lot and changed many scenes, making it less successful than the novel.
So I am not the only person that found “The Kite Runner” one of those books that you find hard to put down once you start reading. There is a great story line with many attention-grabbing moments. It also doesn’t hurt that the characters have strong personalities, which make them easy to follow. Whether you have to read it for a class or just for enjoyment, “The Kite Runner” will not disappoint.
-Published in The Oswegonian
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