Summary:Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable, 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 nonetheless 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, member of a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When the Soviets invade and 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. ~www.khaledhosseini.com
Review:
After reading, A Thousand Splendid Suns
, I put The Kite Runner closer to the top of my To Be Read pile, however it still took a year for me to get to it, because I felt that it would take a toll emotionally and I wasn't wrong. Frankly, there's not much you can say without spoiling this book.
Amir, a privileged young Afghan comes of age shortly before the country becomes embroiled in war. His servant and friend, though Amir could never admit it, Hassan grows up with him. Amir longs for his father's approval and try as he might, seems only capable of getting it for a short while. Tragedy strikes and Amir takes a cowardly route and has to live with that and his subsequent betrayals for the rest of his life. There are some surprises and then you saw some things coming a mile away. I suppose that's to be expected in a story about redemption. Hosseini's use of language and imagery is vivid and emotional and somewhat autobiographical, I suspect!
I'm sure I prefer A Thousand Splendid Suns to The Kite Runner, but it's a slight, indiscernible preference.
Final Take: 4.5/5
, I put The Kite Runner closer to the top of my To Be Read pile, however it still took a year for me to get to it, because I felt that it would take a toll emotionally and I wasn't wrong. Frankly, there's not much you can say without spoiling this book.Amir, a privileged young Afghan comes of age shortly before the country becomes embroiled in war. His servant and friend, though Amir could never admit it, Hassan grows up with him. Amir longs for his father's approval and try as he might, seems only capable of getting it for a short while. Tragedy strikes and Amir takes a cowardly route and has to live with that and his subsequent betrayals for the rest of his life. There are some surprises and then you saw some things coming a mile away. I suppose that's to be expected in a story about redemption. Hosseini's use of language and imagery is vivid and emotional and somewhat autobiographical, I suspect!
I'm sure I prefer A Thousand Splendid Suns
to The Kite Runner, but it's a slight, indiscernible preference.Final Take: 4.5/5
Thanks for the review! I agree with you - I gave A Thousand Splendid Suns a slight nudge ahead of The Kite Runner - and I read them in the same order you did :) I'm looking forward to Hosseini's next book.
ReplyDeleteI read both of these a while ago but I remember being so impressed that Hosseini could write another equally-engrossing page turner! I wonder if he has a third book coming soon?
ReplyDeleteI read the Kite Runner a couple years ago and have A Thousand Splendid Suns on my TBR pile. It might have to move up after hearing you liked it better than this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you finally got around to reading it and it didn't disappoint.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same boat. This one is still on my TBR pile, but I'm not ready for the emotional drain.
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