Buddy Review: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

10:24 Cilla 0 Comments

Review: 

I was excited to do my first ever buddy read with Alyssa, and it was fun being able to discuss the book with her as we went. Don't forget to check out her page for her thoughts and the other half of the discussion!

Discussion

What were your expectations going into the book?
Allysa: I expected it to a really great book but I also expected it to make me uncomfortable at times.

Cilla: The Kite Runner is one of those books that comes highly recommended from my mother. When I finally asked her if I could borrow her copy, she gave it to me with a warning: "You won't be able to put it down." So I had huge expectations going in! I think I was ignorant of the more brutal side of the plot, otherwise I would have had more trepidation.

Amir believes his betrayal of Hasan shaped the person he's become. Do you think he's right?
Allysa: Yes
Cilla: It definitely haunts him, and I think the events he goes through as an adult shows that he tries to learn from that experience. It's actually hard to discuss this without a spoiler. xD

Thoughts

Set against an Afghanistan that is being torn apart by political, religious, and ethnic battles, The Kite Runner is about horrific people doing horrific things, flawed people making terrible choices, good people struggling in the face of deep poverty and war. It's the kind of things I catch a glimpse of on the news and stare in horror and helplessness. Horror was one of my main reactions to the events unfolding in this book; it felt like one tragedy after another. At one stage, I had to stop reading for a few days because I knew something bad was going to happen, and I wasn't emotionally ready for that.

And yet, I kept reading.

The main character, Amir, is the kind of person that would give me pause - the way his friendship with Hasan is still coloured with power imbalance and racism was difficult to swallow - but I could see where his attitudes as a boy came from. The bad guys are terrifying but not caricature-ish; I was always fully aware that these kinds of people are real (which made them even more terrifying).

I can't find another way to put it except that there's something very human about this story. It kept breaking my heart, but I'm going to take after my mother and recommend this book to everyone. Be aware that it might be emotionally draining, but you need to read this.

Let's talk!

Have you read The Kite Runner? What did you think? 

If you haven't, would you like to read it? Have you read other work of fictions about Afghanistan?