The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Large Photo	Edition: Paperback Publication Date: April 27, 2004 Publisher: Riverhead Trade ISBN: 1594480001 Amazon.com Sales Rank: 165 Average Customer Rating: List price: $15.00	Save 54% off list price Price Range: $6.83 - $15.00

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Description

Some of the plot's turns and twists may be somewhat implausible, but Hosseini has created characters that seem so real that one almost forgets that The Kite Runner is a novel and not a memoir. At a time when Afghanistan has been thrust into the forefront of America's collective consciousness ("people sipping lattes at Starbucks were talking about the battle for Kunduz"), Hosseini offers an honest, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, but always heartfelt view of a fascinating land. Perhaps the only true flaw in this extraordinary novel is that it ends all too soon. --Gisele Toueg

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Reviews

If I had known... -	The Kite Runner Review
...how gut-wrenchingly beautiful this book would be I never would have picked it up. It's far too emotionally involving for me. But nonetheless I picked it up and was quickly pulled in by the writing and the need to know, what happened? I was taken on a ride through a foreign land that I had never had the slightest interest in. THe real ride was through my own heart. THe writer touches up on so many deep universal feelings. I would say this book is well written, interesting, informative, but mostly a gutwrenchingly beautiful story. I'm not one for sad movies, or sad books, so I most never choose that type of story, but sometimes a story is just a beautiful story and it doesn't need to be so easily categorized. In the end I was happy that I found this sad, heartwarming story.
Not the edition or printing of the book I wanted -	The Kite Runner Review
The book was good but Amazon sent me the wrong edition and printing. I only wanted a 1st edition and 1st printing of the book in hardback, I wish I could return it for the book version I ordered and wanted.
Book Review: The Kite Runner -	The Kite Runner Review
This is the story of a man's journey to right the biggest wrong of his past. This is also the story of a country and a culture that has died and shall never be resurrected to what it once was. This story is about holding onto traditions and customs in a new country and a new life. This is a story about honor and bravery. Simply, this is a GREAT story. I am hoping that, by now, many or most of you have read this amazing book. It is a great story, but it is also a sad story, in my opinion. The story is about a boy, Amir, and his life in Afghanistan and later in the United States of America. Amir's father, Baba, is, BY FAR, my favorite character in the book. He is a man of great honor and pride. He is a man who seemed larger than life, to Amir. Amir is not the brave, strong man that his father, Baba is. As such, he carries such a great amount of shame for falling less than what he believes are his father's expectations of him. My review will not outline the storyline of this book/movie, rather touch on what I saw were the differences between the movie and the book, due to the Lit Flicks Challenge. I believe, in order to try to condense the story into a reasonable timeframe for a movie, there were a considerable amount of critical parts of the story that were left out of the movie. I understand Hollywood and their need to package up movies into a certain timeframe... but, I think that cutting out the majority of Amir's time in the middle east was a disservice to the movie watchers who did not read the book. Specifically, the amount of time that Amir spent in hospitals and what Sohrab had to go through while Amir recovered was, for me, a very important part of the story. The casting of Baba disappointed me. I LOVE BABA and I pictured him in my mind as this big, towering, powerful man. The actor who portrayed Baba was WAY TOO SHORT and diminutive for my liking. Although, I must say that he did a fine job and played the role well. The movie neglected to show more about the struggling that Baba and Amir went through in the United States. The movie really shortchanged the viewers on how Amir fell in love with Soraya. The part of the book where they travel inside the gas tank of the truck to escape Afghanistan is not shown in the movie as it was written in the book. That travel had so much impact on Amir and they don't properly reflect in the movie what happened in there. I was also disappointed in the casting of Amir. He didn't "fit the bill" for me. He was a good actor and did a good job, but I wanted somebody a little more rugged. I did like to be able to view the physical difference in the Hazara boys, as it was hard to visualize in my mind but easier to understand in the movie. In the event that you haven't read the book, nor seen the movie... I recommend the book first and the movie second. This doesn't surprise me because that's how I usually feel. However, you will appreciate the movie so much more... by the way, the movie is done in subtitles for the majority of the film. Hosseini makes a cameo appearance at the end of the movie in the park scene. I couldn't focus on the movie at that point because I was so busy watching him... silly me! Oh, there are A LOT of foreign language words in this book. I had a friend who helped me to translate them. If you read the book first, you may want to have the internet handy to check the meaning of certain words... it adds a lot to the story. Also, some knowledge on the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and The Taliban rule in Afghanistan would be helpful. Sher's "Out of Ten" Scale: Once I had a better understanding of the history, the area, and the language, I was gobbling up this book. I absolutely LOVED it. I actually thought that it was a true story when I was reading it (silly me). Especially with our for men and women fighting over there, I think that it's a book that we should all pick up and read, if we can. We are so fortunate to be Americans (well, that is for the American readers of this post... I know I've got some readers from other countries, too!). So, I am giving it a 9.5 out of 10.
Not a Happy Story -	The Kite Runner Review
The story revolves around two best friends Amir and Hassan, Amir's family has enough money to be comfortable and he befriends Hassan a Hazara boy with a cleft lip who under the class structure in Afghanistan is beneath him. The relationship between the two is more like that of two brothers rather than mere friends, Hassan even saves Amir from a viscous beating at the hands of neighborhood bullies, however when it is time for Amir to return the favor, cowardice and perhaps his own pride compels him not to take the beating to save his friend-brother Hassan from being rapped by a gang of brutal thugs. By allowing this to happen, Amir illustrates that the class structure in Afghanistan is alive and well and that perhaps the brotherly bond that the reader thinks existed wasn't as strong as we thought. Hassan and his father fade into the shadows of the story after Amir allows Hassan who is also a servant to Amir's father take the blame for actions he committed. Amir feels guilty about exiling his friend away, but then the Soviet invasion intervened and because of his families wealth, Amir comes to America with his father. Still he never forgot Hassan or the guilt that he had over letting him be raped and then sending him to an uncertain future. This tornado of guilt leads Amir back to a drastically changed Afghanistan under the firm hand of the Taliban in search of Amir. Sadly, he learns that Hassan and his wife have been executed in the street by the Taliban, but the whereabouts of Hassan's song Sohrab are unknown at first. Amir becomes consumed with finding his former friends son and this quest leads him into the clutches of a Taliban leader, who is holding Sohrab hostage. However, this is not just any Taliban leader, but rather one of the bullies who tormented Hassan and Amir as children. A fight ensues and the Taliban leader splits Amir's lip giving him a hare-lip like the one that cursed Hassan for his life. Amir is saved from a worse beating by Sohrab who shots a gold ball into the eye of his Taliban captor. A heart-wrenching story of friendship, betrayal, class differences and trying to make amends for past mistakes. This is not a novel to be read by the light hearted or those who hate to cry and is a great novel for discussion of human motivation and the frail nature of loyalties and the struggle between selflessness and selfishness.
This book is a must read!! -	The Kite Runner Review
This amazing story is about a relationship between a son, Amir, and father and a boy and his best friend. The story is over a twenty-year span. They're so many mixed feelings that you'll have while reading this story, you'll feel sorry for him, dislike him and fall in love with him. This is by far one of the best novels I have read in a long time. I don't usually read fiction; however, The Kite Runner is a requirement for my English class this summer. I decided to get a head start on the book since I tend to lose interest in novels and didn't want to fall behind in my class. I finished it in less than a week and my class hasn't even started yet. You will not be dissapointed!
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