Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable and beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan grow up in different worlds: Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy man, while Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara -- a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him.
The Kite Runner is a novel about friendship and betrayal, and about the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of fathers over sons -- their love, their sacrifices, and their lies. Written against a backdrop of history that has not been told in fiction before, The Kite Runner describes the rich culture and beauty of a land in the process of being destroyed. But through the devastation, Khaled Hosseini offers hope: through the novel's faith in the power of reading and storytelling, and in the possibilities he shows us for redemption.
I really loved the way The Kite Runner started out. The descriptions of Kabul before it was destroyed, the insights into Afghani life (albeit privileged and upperclass Afghani life), and the dynamics between Amir and Hassan, Baba, and Rahim Khan were very compelling. The whole caste hierarchy that left a noticeable and unbridgeable gap between Hassan and Amir would have made for a great book on its own. The rape and the fallout made for a really fantastic beginning.
Amir's life in the United States wasn't as interesting as the first part, but I still enjoyed it. I liked Soraya as a character a lot, and I enjoyed the family dynamics and traditional marriage ritual. Baba grew a lot as a character during that section, and I was still really enjoying the book at that point.
But then Amir went back to Afghanistan, and everything went downhill. It became clear that Hosseini was deliberately trying to create an emotional response from the reader by manufacturing a situation built on unbelievable coincidences. Assef as the very man who Amir had to find in order to save Sohrab? The ~*~symbolic~*~ cut on Amir's lip? The beggar who knew Amir's mother? COME ON. It was also just really, really predictable. As soon as Rahim Khan told Amir about Sohrab, it was painfully obvious that Amir would end up adopting him.
I don't know, I feel like a lot of this book was enjoyable and strong, but the last section with Amir back in Afghanistan just ruined it for me. It was all far too contrived and unbelievable. I think Hosseini is a pretty good writer, but he needs to tone down the emotional content and focus on building a believable story.
