The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner is the first book written in English by an Afghan author and this intrigued me. Most of what we read about Afghanistan is written by North American journalists who are looking at the country from a political point of view. We are shown what life is like for the privileged class before the Taliban came to power. Life was very comfortable indeed for people with money - somehow I never thought about wealth and Afghanistan in the same sentence. However, life has always been miserable for the poor there and it just keeps getting worse. This is the story of two boys, one rich, the other poor who are tied together by a bond much deeper than friendship. The wealthy boy, Amir, betrays his servant,Hassan. The book explores Amir's guilt and his search for redemption. Amir's desperate attempt to gain the love of his cold and distant father is also a key theme. I know that this book has attracted rave reviews but, in my opinion, the writing is formulaic and some of the prose is really hackneyed and old fashioned. Most of the characters, especially the villain in the story, are too one-dimensional to be believable. Nonetheless the story is a good one set in Afghanistan, The United States and Pakistan. Although The Kite Runner ends on a note of cautious optimism, it's disconcerting that the social, economic and religious conflicts portrayed in this book are even more widespread and devastating today.