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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
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The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

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24,77066616 (4.26)364
(109) 2007 (67) 2008 (70) Afghanistan (2,109) betrayal (187) book club (163) boys (77) childhood (96) coming of age (165) contemporary (65) contemporary fiction (138) drama (61) family (143) fiction (2,584) friendship (455) historical fiction (141) islam (104) Kabul (87) kites (113) literature (161) middle east (273) novel (359) own (121) read (333) redemption (137) roman (92) Taliban (254) tbr (90) unread (155) war (248)

Member recommendations

  1. the_frog recommends The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad
  2. infiniteletters recommends Houri by Mehrdad Balali
  3. susonagger recommends A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  4. whitewavedarling recommends Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama, "While these works may be in regard to entirely different cultures and nations, and one of fiction while the other is nonfiction, both are literary coming-of-age (see more) tales that are not only beautiful written, but relevant to today's issues and diversity, and memorable for their tales and messages."
  5. Yervant recommends The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji
  6. Alliebadger recommends The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway, "Both beautifully written accounts of atrocities we never really think about. Each one is a fast and amazing read."
  7. alzo recommends A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
  8. Eustrabirbeonne recommends Les Cercueils de zinc by Svetlana Alexievitch
  9. Eustrabirbeonne recommends Par les monts et les plaines d'Asie centrale by Anne Nivat
  10. Eustrabirbeonne recommends La Supplication by Svetlana Alexievitch

(see all 13 recommendations)

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English (590)  Dutch (27)  Danish (12)  Spanish (8)  Swedish (6)  French (5)  Italian (5)  Norwegian (4)  German (4)  Portuguese (2)  Portuguese (Brazil) (2)  Croatian (1)  All languages (666)
Showing 1-5 of 590 (next | show all)
I resisted reading this book - I didn't want to read a depressing book. But my son had to read it for English class and asked for some help, so I gave in. And I'm glad I did. This novel is difficult to read at times, but it is also a novel of redemption, and that makes for a rewarding experience. This novel also gives a glimpse into what happened to Afghanistan - how the country fell apart under the stress of war and fanaticism. The story gave me a lot of empathy for all those who lost their homes, their culture, their heritage. ( )
  tjsjohanna | Feb 5, 2010 |
Great Story ( )
  Rinky | Feb 5, 2010 |
Very powerful story about how one decision can affect your entire life. The story is about Amir, the relationships he makes throughout his life, and how he changes into a man that he didn't believe that he could be through his need for redemption. It makes the reader very aware of the way of life of those who live in Afghanistan and especially the hardships of the women and children. ( )
  lrothmier | Feb 1, 2010 |
I'm a few years behind on this read, but immensely glad I finally picked it up. It's a very quick read - I finished in three days reading in short bursts and finished up crying (I really don't cry much with books or films). There's so much more to say, but for now...just read the book. ( )
  sojourner8 | Jan 31, 2010 |
This is the go-to Oprah book for the Afghanistan War. This desperately poor country, forsaken and forgotten after the Soviet retreat, was pushed again into the limelight by its rulers' foolish sheltering of the world's number one terrorist. A corollary of William Gibson's "The future is already here - it is just unevenly distributed." is that the archaic past is still with us. Afghanistan happens to be its mother lode.

Hosseini's coming of age novel offers Western readers a thrilling but painless introduction to a violent, archaic and unjust world. Hosseini expertly interweaves background information on country and people with a story of friendship, sacrifice and betrayal. When the story reaches US soil, it runs out of steam. The last third may give closure but strains plausibility. The bureaucratic hurdles exposed at the end only hint at the expected difficulties and culture shock. A book that opens a reader's eyes but allows him to preserve his prejudices. ( )
  jcbrunner | Jan 31, 2010 |
Showing 1-5 of 590 (next | show all)
At times, the book suffers from relentless earnestness and somewhat hackneyed descriptions. But Hosseini has a remarkable ability to imprison the reader in horrific, shatteringly immediate scenes... The result is a sickening sensation of complicity.
added by Shortride | editTime, Aryn Baker (Sep 1, 2003)
 
This powerful first novel, by an Afghan physician now living in California, tells a story of fierce cruelty and fierce yet redeeming love.
 
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Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
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Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
This book is dedicated to
Haris and Farah, both
the noor of my eyes,
and to the children
of Afghanistan.
First words
I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.
Quotations
I see now that Baba was wrong, there is a God, there always had been. I see Him here, in the eyes of the people in this corridor of desperation. This is the real house of God, this is where those who have lost God will find Him, not the white masjid, with its bright diamond lights and towering minarets. There is a God, there has to be, and now I will pray, I will pray that He forgive that I have neglected Him all of these years, forgive that I have betrayed, lied, and sinned with impunity only to turn to him in my hour of need.
For you, a thousand times over.
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Book description
This novel presents life in Afghanistan before the revolution and the Russian invasion. The author describes the customs and culture of the Afghan people and the difficulty of immigrants trying to adapt to American life. Most of all, this is a story of friendship, family, betrayal, and redemption. There are intense images, but the book is very powerful and well-written. The 2007 movie was based on this book.

Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0747566534, Paperback)

In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do. He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political turmoil--in this case, Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over. And he does this on his first try.

The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted. Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty. In part, it is these demons and the sometimes impossible quest for forgiveness that bring him back to his war-torn native land after it comes under Taliban rule. ("...I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.")

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

(retrieved from Amazon Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:39:05 -0500)

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