I only picked up this book in the library as I had recorded the film on TV a few days previously which made me think I would like to read it before watching the film. I was extremely impressed with the book although I was quite disappointed in the film and felt it lacked a lot of the emotion and detail which was in the book.

Published: 2003 by Riverhead Books
Cost: Available new on Amazon including delivery for £5.59

Pages: 324
The Author: Khaled Hosseini was born in Afghanistan and moved to America where he studied medicine, during his studies he wrote this which was his first novel, he then went on to write A Thousand Splendid Suns which is also very good.

The Storyline:
This is a book full of interesting twists and turns and I shall try to give a brief outline without giving too much away.
The main character is Amir who lives with his father, his mother died during childbirth. They have plenty of money and have a servant who lives on their land with his son Hassan. The story revolves around the friendship between these two children and the difficulties they encounter living through a period of war in Afghanistan.

It is heartbreaking at times and heart warming at times, the title comes from their favourite hobby kite running. The whole town gets together to take part in flying the kites, on person (Amir) flies the kits and lets go and the other (Hassan) will retrieve the kite. Hassan runs for the kite and will do anything to please his best friend.
Amir and Hazara have a close relationship although being poor, Hassan is often bullied and when he chases the kite on competition day he is subjected to violence and sexual abuse and Amir has choices to make whether to defend his friend or stand and watch his suffering.
Not long after this the area is being taken over by the Soviet Union and Amir and his father escape and move to America where they no longer live the life of luxury they were used to. They had to start from scratch building a life for themselves, Amir grows up and meets a girl and falls in love but never forgets his best friend and always wonders what happened to his best friend and his father after they left.

Years later a friend of his fathers whom he was very close to, Rahim Khan, contacts Amir to ask him to visit him in Pakistan as he is dying and would like to see him. The book follows Amir's return to Afghanistan where bad memories haunt him and Rahim Khan lets Amir know what became of his long lost friend and his father.
He then goes on to meet some family he didn't know he had before deciding whether to return to America and never return to his birth country and whether to return or with someone.

Overall
I found the book a little slow to start off with but I have this problem with many books, it may not be the book that is the problem but more due to my impatience.
I think the length of the book was perfect,once the story kicked in I couldn't put it down.
At first I struggled a little bit with the foreign names of people and places but I soon got used to it. I found the book sad and disturbing in places but a very good story and I couldn't wait to watch the film afterwards.
I would definitely recommend this book. Due to it's difficulty, language and some sexually explicit parts it isn't one i would recommend for children.