The Kite Runner

Author: Khaled Hosseini
Genre: fiction
Publication info: Riverhead, 2003
Pages: 371

It's been said that you can tell the quality of a book by how long it stays with you, by how much you think about it well after you've turned the last page. The Kite Runner was recommended to me as such a book, and I have to say I agree with the judgment.

This is not your usual coming-of-age story. For one thing, it's set mostly in Afghanistan (apparently the first book by an Afghan author to be written in English). On top of the profound story, you get to learn about what life is like in this country far from the United States. You learn about kite fighting and kite running, Afghan codes of honor, and the devastation of war. For this reason alone it's an eye-opening book.

But what impressed me even more was that even though it is set in a different culture, many of the themes dealt with were quite familiar to me. They are themes that go deeper than our separate cultures and into our common humanity: friendship, the father-and-son relationship, betrayal, guilt, fear, love, redemption. If anything, this book shows that all across the world, we are more alike than we sometimes think.

The narrator of the story is Amir, the son of an affluent man known as Baba. His best friend, although he won't always admit it, is Hassan, the son of Baba's servant. The reason Amir doesn't always admit to being friends with Hassan is that Hassan is a Hazara, a member of an ethnic group considered lower-class in Afghanistan. Although they grow up basically as brothers, it becomes clear early on in the book that Hassan is much more devoted to Amir than vice versa.

Then one day, something happens that alters their relationship forever. In this terrible moment, Amir's brotherly love for Hassan is tested, and it fails. After that they drift apart, not because Hassan feels betrayed, but rather because Amir is overwhelmed with guilt. Although this pivotal moment in their friendship (I won't say exactly what happens) is painful enough by itself, it is really the guilt tearing them apart that is the most saddening.

But where there is guilt, there is also the possibility for redemption. Years later, Amir receives a phone call from an old friend who tells him what I believe is the main message of the story: "There is a way to be good again." Amir does find a way, but once again he will be tested, even more deeply than before.

It's a profound story, one that I definitely will be thinking about for a long time. I should warn you, though, that it is not exactly a pleasant story. Some of the central story elements (such as the pivotal moment I vaguely described above) are very disturbing, and at times they even caused me almost tangible pain to imagine. There is also a bit of offensive language that usually I would not tolerate, but for some reason I was able to get through it this time.

A lot of good stories have disturbing and painful aspects to them. What's important, I think, is what the story does with them. In The Kite Runner, it's not the pain that's the focus, but the redemption. There is a way to be good again. Even when you feel you've done something horrible, even when you feel beyond hope, there is a way to be good again. That message rings true with me. I hope it does with you too.