Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini
Hennepin County Library hardcover 329 pages
genre: realistic fiction

I can't believe it has taken me so long to read this! Jenifer gave me her book club copy a few years ago and it sat on my shelf until August. Ben had chosen it as his summer reading book, but hadn't started it so I gave him my/his mom's copy. Then I got a copy from the library so we could talk about it. Sigh. My time-management skills continue to challenge me.

I finished it about a week ago and need to get this copy back to the library. What an amazing, painful story. Amir is the protagonist - a wealthy boy whose mother died when he was young. He loves to read, isn't very brave, and craves his father's approval. Hassan is a "Hazara" - a servant of the lower classes. The boys grow up together, close yet with a gulf between them.

Some places I noted:

page 92/93 - "He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time. I loved him in that moment, loved him more than I'd ever loved anyone, and I wanted to tell them all that I was the snake in the grass, the monster in the lake." Oh my. This scene broke my heart. How Amir could be so incredibly wretched, cruel, and conflicted!

page 178 - The adult Amir has gone to Pakistan to meet with Rahim Khan, his father's good friend and the only adult who understood the child Amir. "I see America has infused you with the optimism that has made her so great. That's very good. We're a melancholic people, we Afghans, aren't we? . . . We give in to loss, to suffering, accept it as a fact of life, even see it as necessary."

One of the things I love about a book like this is how it stretches my understanding of other cultures. This book taught me a little about Afghanistan and some of the joys and pains of being from there. When Rahim Khan talks about greeting the Taliban with joy because they thought better things were in store, it almost makes me want to cry. Hopes dashed.

page 195 - When Amir finds out about Hassan's life (after reading his letter). Oh my. Powerful. Painful.

page 238/239 - The scene in the stadium when the cleric gets up to pray and says "We are here today to carry out Shari'a" . . . his "prayer" appalls me. What hatefulness. I am glad I follow Jesus.

Throughout the book, the photographs of people and places enrich the story so much! They show ordinary people (for the most part) doing ordinary things. I was surprised by how rocky, dry, and non-green the country looks! Where do they grow their food?

page 265-7 - Rahim's letter to Amir. Again, painful and powerful. "But I hope you will heed this: A man who has no conscience, no goodness, does not suffer. I hope your suffering comes to an end with this journey to Afghanistan."

page 288 - When Amir finally tells his wife everything! What a difficult but necessary conversation. I love her reaction. What an amazing woman!

page 307 - Amir turns to God in prayer. Beautiful! Right in the hospital, he prays even though "I haven't prayed for over fifteen years. I have long forgotten the words." He cries out. "There is a God, there has to be, and now I will pray, I will pray that He forgive that I have neglected Him all of these years, forgive that I have betrayed, lied, and sinned with impunity only to turn to Him now in my hour of need, I pray that He is as merciful, benevolent, and gracious as His book says He is."

This made me think of the missionaries who said they find the commonalities between their Christian faith and the faith of their Muslim neighbors and work from that common bond. There is One God.

page 328 - When they are at the picnic and Amir asks Sohrab if he would like Amir to run the kite for him (chase down the ones Sohrab cuts down). When Sohrab nods, Amir says, "For you, a thousand times over." . . . the same thing Hassan had said to him so often.