Terrific Journey (The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini)

Member Name: villager90

Product:	The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Date:	23/02/08 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: wonderfully written

Disadvantages: ending went on too long (just a little disadvantage)

I came upon this book by sheer chance. I originally wanted to purchase the Richard & Judy recommended book, A thousand Suns, but did not have enough money so settled for this cheaper book. Reading the back it usually not my cup of tea reading about a different culture, i prefer my thrillers, however i was pleasantly surprised by this book and the emotional roller coaster it took you on.

The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who is haunted by the guilt of betraying his childhood friend Hassan, the son of his father's Hazara servant. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the Taliban regime.

Hosseini manages beautifully to describe Amirs relationship with Hassan in the first part of the book; how Amir was jealous of Hassan, the culture of Afghanistan (something i knew little about) and also Amir's relationship with his father, his Baba.

The book is quite dark in places and in my opinion was split into three significant parts. Amir's Childhood, his treachery and guilt and finally, his redemption. All elegantly described.

Hosseini also manages to educate the reader, with him using Afghanistani words and phrases with normally and English translation afterwards but this is not always the case-but you can usually work out what is being said.

As I said before I am a fan of addictive, high drama, action type books. Not usually a fan of descriptive reads. However I thoroughly enjoyed reading the tale of Amir's journey in life, and you go on it too.. You begin by liking the boy, then hating him and thinking why could you do that, before finally liking him again. Following the journey as he went on it. Credit to Hosseini!

One tiny criticism of the book would be how the ending is forever coming. He saves the boy, he gets to safety, but then theres about 3 chapters about the adoption process. Fair enough this is all part of the struggle by the orphans of Afghanistan but I didn't really think it was needed by the story.

Further reason for my enjoyment of the book was having Afghanistan described to me. For me all I had heard about Afghanistan was Opium Fields and a war zone. So to have such a place described (well at the beginning) was a wonderful thing. with Kite Races, Cooking Smells and Children playing in the streets. Something very special that Hosseini managed to do.

I throughly recommend this book and would urge any fan of reading to read a copy. I'll be off to watch the film now, but i doubt it will live up to the wonderful, original story that Hoesseini managed to create on the back streets of Kabul. I'm sure this book will go down as classic in years to come.

Summary: a must read by anyone!