Harrowing times
The Kite Runner

By Khaled Hosseini, Asia Books 350 baht

Youthapong Charoenpan

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed The Kite Runner, a novel I fell in love with from the very first page. I particularly liked the author’s attention to detail and his imaginative descriptions.

This remarkable book tells a story of cruelty, betrayal, sexual abuse, and atonement through redeeming love.

The story focuses on a young boy called Amir and his close friendship with Hassan, the son of Amir’s father’s servant. The vulnerability of their friendship is often symbolized by the time they spend together flying kites.

“Kite running” is a popular game among Afghan children, who compete in teams of two or more to force down another team’s kite. The idea is to cut through the string of the opponent’s kite. Sometimes glass is used as a weapon on these fighting kites. The game can be highly competitive and even aggressive at times, with groups of children often standing by to completely destroy the losing kite in such a contest.

Hassan is said to be the best kite runner in Kabul. And he also turns out to be a loyal friend to Amir, even protecting him from sadistic bullies. Meanwhile, Hassan has been impressed by Amir, who often recites traditional folk tales for his benefit.

During a kite running contest, Hassan ends up being brutally raped by a group supporting his opponents. Amir’s failure to protect his friend from the attack goes on to haunt him for the rest of his life.

As the strife of civil war begins to devastate Afghanistan, Amir and his father Baba flee to California. Baba struggles to make ends meet in order to send Amir to school. Despite their difficulties, they manage to retain their Afghan pride. Amir goes on to forge a successful career as a writer, gets married and settles down. This doesn’t stop him from thinking of his dear friend Hassan and what has become of him.

At this point, the writer begins to describe Afghanistan’s suffering under the oppressive Taliban regime. Amir will have to face up to the Taliban when he eventually returns home in a bid to locate Hassan and help his family. On returning to Kabul, Amir meets a Taliban official, who, in a cruel twist of fate, was the leader of the group who sexually assaulted Hassan.

Unfortunately, Amir finds that Hassan has become another victim of the Taliban, although he is at least able to help Hassan’s family.

Hosseini has an impressive knack for surprising readers in a very natural way. His poignant and often emotive descriptions can quickly take the reader through a rollercoaster of emotions. Indeed, don’t be too surprised to find yourself laughing one minute, then close to shedding tears the next. He also does a fantastic job of getting across the essence of being Afghani.

There are some very interesting quotes throughout the book that tend to make the reader stop and reflect.

By the end of the novel, Amir uses his own compassion and courage to finally atone for his failure to support his friend.

The Kite Runner is a very intense book, which can go some way towards demonstrating to the world the suffering and struggle of the Afghan people.
A film adaptation is now showing at movie theaters nationwide.