Book: The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A really great read which captures the same thing the main character is said to in his own stories: that element ever sought after by English-majors the world over we call irony. I had already seen the movie, which took the edge off of some of the terrible things the book depicts, although the book can not be described as graphically gruesome. The terror of life in Afghanistan is not the focus of the book and only serves as the backdrop for the development of the main character, Amir, in the third act of the story. He is someone we can all relate to, having regrets about the relationships of his past, including especially his pure-hearted best friend (and family servant) Hassan, and his own father. When he is presented with an opportunity to achieve atonement he faces the choice of addressing the weaknesses that he has spent his whole life trying to avoid. While the descriptions of life in Afghanistan during the Russian invasion, the Afghani community in America, and Taliban rule, are all engaging and well-written, the beautifully crafted story arc and realistic representations of family and friend relationships solidify this book's place as another modern classic.