The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Like most of the books in my TBR (to be read), The Kite Runner has been sitting beside my desk for a long time until I decided to pick it up for my 52 Book Club 2022 challenge as a book with a plot/story set in two different continents. It also happened this is one of the book mentioned in The Reading List by Sarah Nisha Adams – a book I really enjoyed. Plus, it is also one of the books from Rory’s read list – if you know Gilmore Girls.
I knew The Kite Runner was an emotional book, I knew it. But I wasn’t ready for the tears, I mean, WHYYY. I knew there were trigger warnings, I knew there were hurtful scenes, but it would hit that hard that I cried for days while and after reading it. If you read because you want to feel something, if you read because you want to cry, this is one of the books I would highly recommend.
Title: The Kite Runner
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Genre: Classic, Historical Fiction
My Review Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Description:
The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption, and it is also about the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.
The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner tells a sweeping story of family, love, and friendship against a backdrop of history that has not been told in fiction before, bringing to mind the large canvases of the Russian writers of the nineteenth century. But just as it is old-fashioned in its narration, it is contemporary in its subject—the devastating history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years. As emotionally gripping as it is tender, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful debut.
It took me almost a month to finish it. I was busy at work, worried because of some big changes inside our organization. Plus as much as possible I want to spend more time with Mnemo to compensate from the hours I am outside for work. Those two, plus the heavy feeling whenever I pick up this book. I read it July 3 to July 29, and unlike the first few months of 2022, my second quarter decreased my time reading.
The Kite Runner had a disturbing and graphic depictions of child rape, sexual slavery, pedophilia, suicide, war/violence. If you know you are affected by these themes, better to skip this book because it really is graphic, kudos to very vivid descriptions of Hosseini bravely calling out this inhumane activities.
The writing is superb, and I won’t elaborate it more here. What I want to give focus on is the character depictions and development. The book is character centric, and the way Hosseini described Amir and whatever’s happening in his point of view is so realistic I won’t blame you if you think this is a memoir. The divisions and classes are well represented by symbols embraced by the characters hence it has been very much shown throughout the novel – which is I assume one of the most important subject the author (and readers) would want to be highlighted. The use of kites, being the symbol of our characters freedom, happiness, and childhood also depicts their relationship with other, their family, and themselves which basically the backbone of why we have this story in the first place.
Yep, it was disturbing. I had a lot of times when I needed to pause and breathe and shift my mind to other things before I continue the chapter/s. The horrible things started happening when they were still kids, and I have a soft, fragile spot when we talk about kids. I was literally crying at some points.
Do I recommend this book? Of course! It is a beautifully written story of life before, during, and after the wars and who know if the even more disgusting parts also happened in real life. If it did, I hope these people found their karma, good or bad. And I definitely don’t wish for it to happen again, so let’s be aware of how traumatizing these experiences are and let’s fight the bad energy, in our own way/s, so it won’t happen to anyone we love or anyone at all.
view my vlog about the kite runner!
I am using the CAWPILE rating system, though please remember a reader’s taste may change from time to time, so I’m not sure if you can trust me here unless this was a recent read. Leaving my ratings anyways because this was totally how I felt the time I read this book. *winks*
I was in Tagaytay when I read most parts of this book. We spent our two days there celebrating my friend’s wedding, enjoying coffee, foodtripping, and of course, a little bit of cold away from Manila. One perfect place to enjoy reading (and yes coffee).
here are other reads if you liked The Kite Runner:
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance.
In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American Dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation. Read my review here >>
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.
By her brother’s graveside, Liesel’s life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger’s Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found.
But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up, and closed down.
The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
If you start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy named Bruno. (Though this isn’t a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence.
Fences like this exist all over the world. We hope you never have to encounter one.
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