The Kite Runner, a powerful tale

The Kite Runner is a novel by Khalid Hosseini. The book was first published in 2003 by Riverhead Books and is Hosseini’s debut novel. We are reading this book in class. I just recently started reading it and I have already found my self in love with the story, like so many others before me. The Kite Runner takes us back to the 1970s Afghanistan and we are presented to the country’s history from the 1970s to year 2002. We follow the story of Amir, the son of a wealthy and highly respected businessman, and Hassan, the son of the father’s servant and Amir’s best friend. Hassan and Amir are peers and through their childhood, inseparable. They grow up in the so what stabile Afghanistan in the early 1970s, playing in the trees, making up stories and running kites, living an uncomlicated and idyllic life. Until one life changing moment.

The two things that first got my attention while reading, was the relationships between the characters in the story. They are so complex in so many ways. First we have the relationship between Amir and his father, Baba. It has, since the birth of Amir, been strained and difficult because Amir’s mother did not survive the birth. Baba somewhere inside of himself blames his son for the pain he has had to live with ever since the loss of his wife. He showed more attention and affection for the servants and business partners than for Amir, while Amir, as a little boy struggled to make his father proud and to make him love him.

Another relationship worth mentioning is between Amir and Hassan, the servants’ son. They grew up together and they are the closest you can come to best friends. But all the while, Hassan is Amir’s servant and he is a Hazard. Back then you did not normally treat a Hazard and servant like your equal. How they balance their bond to each other is quite intriguing. I have not read enough to go any deeper than this, but what I’ve read so far is GOOD!
Picture found here