The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini


By his both heart wrenchingly raw and tender tale, originally published in 2003, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner tells the story of a boy by the name of Amir. Set primarily in Afghanistan, a bond binds two boys, Amir and his benign friend Hassan, from birth. The two share their lives together, and even by the social law that separates them in status, the pair spend their days inseparably, enjoying films together at the local cinema, sitting under a pomegranate tree lost in the world of books, and with every winter, flying kites as the sky grew thin with the cold. But neither of them could have anticipated the tragedy of 1975 that would change them forever.

After the incident, an immediate wall erupts to separate Hassan and Amir, composed of the company of betrayal and guilt; consequently, Amir, even through his desperate efforts to rid himself of the memory and how it defines him, endures the echos of that tragedy which follow him through the years-- from Afghanistan to America. Being no exception to the philosophy that the past will always find a way back, Amir, a grown man content with his life in the states, is confronted with a chance to right his wrong. This chance presents itself by a single telephone call from an old voice of Amir’s past; the voice urges Amir, “There is a way to be good again.”

Although this literary work is a treasure in its nature, the content it presents requires an audience capable of coping with it and understanding its purpose. The tale treads upon very disturbing acts of human capability, and it takes an understanding reader to also identify the gems of human nature that can in fact emerge from wrongdoing.

The story of Amir captures the very depths of human nature at its finest as well as at its worst. Hosseini paints a brutally honest portrait of betrayal, pain, friendship, shame, guilt, and redemption. The Kite Runner is an example of the very weight, the very value of a second chance, and what we are capable of achieving because of it.