The Kite Runner - A Review

I just read 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini and I'd like to share my opinion about it. Here is my review of the book:

Khalid Hosseini is a classic example of a successful first-time novelist who didn't just earn the title of an 'International Bestseller; for his 2003 novel The Kite Runner but also managed to amend many a perceptions about the people of Afghanistan with his writing.

Although this book was recommended by a friend, I picked it up with much anticipation as I felt ignorant about the world of Afghanistan and carried very bleak images of the nation in my mind. I certainly didn't expect to come face-on with the softer and much plausible side of the nation often termed as a 'terrorist state' by the global media.

Providentially, the book is very much distant from the Afghan politics but has an edge over other such novels revolving around social stigmas, childhood friends, treachery, culpability, love, and ardor. As I began reading, the book begins with a phone call and so I expected to read what lies in the future but instead, Hosseini very wisely introduces the past at that very moment.

While reading through his childhood reminiscences, I actually felt as though I was watching one of these movies which have a incessant snap from the present to the past and vice versa. In the book, the past revolves around the narrator Amir and his childhood friend Hassan, who loves Amir unconditionally. Hassan always takes up for Amir and protects him from childhood bullies even though he is a year younger than Amir. They are virtually inseparable, until one day when Amir's audacity doesn't match up to his friend's. Their lives are changed forever. The story comes full circle when Amir comes back around to the present, giving a feel as though the story has just begun.

Hosseini has a very articulate writing style which is sparse but effective. With uncomplicated yet effective narration, he makes sure you start living the world you are being introduced to. The end doesn't seem to be rushing towards me, as a reader, which is the case with many a novels these days. Amir's life has its highs and lows, happy and sad times. The lows are given just the right treatment - narrated in a manner to evoke empathy in the reader without making it disproportionately dramatic. The highs, though, are either written in an understatedly style or immediately followed up with hints of impending anguish - statements on the lines of "It made me happy, lest did I know it wouldn't last long." Such mentions made the whole narration seem as if the author didn't want to give allowance for happiness.

Written with a fundamental standpoint of showcasing humanity, the book is often misinterpreted as a story about culture alone, which is a preconceived notion I carried too for a long time until I read the book. The issues dealt with however, are universal like companionship, fidelity, brutality, longing for acceptance, and liberation.

The Kite Runner is a book about love – love that's not confined in narrow labels such as romance. But love as the one power that transfers transgression of the past, love that is candid enough to bring a smile on a face that had forgotten to broaden its facial muscles in a long time, love that is willing to take a chance, again and yet again, to bring back a living dead back to life.

What really moved me in this book was Amir's voice. There were times where I sympathized with him, cheered for him and felt angry with him. Likewise, I became attached to the characters of Hassan and his father. As I read, these characters became real to me, and it felt difficult to put the book down and leave their world.

I believe Hosseini said the right story at the right time, and he told it pretty well. It actually sneaked the reader in the minor personal quibble that is a mark of a masterpiece by a talented writer.