The Kite Runner
A Novel
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4.5 • 327 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The #1 New York Times bestselling debut novel that introduced Khaled Hosseini to millions of readers all over the world.
Amir and Hassan are childhood friends in the alleys and orchards of Kabul in the sunny days before the invasion of the Soviet army and Afghanistan’s descent into fanaticism. Both motherless, they grow up as close as brothers, but their fates are to be different. Amir’s father is a wealthy merchant; Hassan’s father is his manservant. Amir belongs to the ruling caste of Pashtuns, Hassan to the despised Hazaras.
This fragile idyll is broken by the mounting ethnic, religious and political tensions that begin to divide Afghanistan further. An unspeakable assault on Hassan by a gang of local boys tears the friends apart; and when the Soviets invade Afghanistan, Amir and his father flee to San Francisco, leaving Hassan and his father to a pitiless fate. Only years later will Amir have an opportunity to redeem himself by returning to Afghanistan to begin to repay the debt long owed to the man who should have been his brother.
Compelling, heartrending and etched with details of a history never before told in fiction, The Kite Runner is a story of the ways in which we’re damned by our moral failures, and of the extravagant cost of redemption.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Seven years after the novel's publication and four years after the release of a motion picture, a faithful though streamlined graphic novel adaptation of Hosseini's bestseller appears. Amir was raised in privilege in Afghanistan, with Hassan, a member of the Hazara minority whose father is a servant in Amir's house, as his constant companion. Amir's jealousy over his father's affection for Hassan leads to a betrayal that breaks up the friendship. Hassan and his father move away, Amir and his father escape from Afghanistan during the Soviet war, and the tie seems broken forever. But 15 years later, Amir, now living in San Francisco, receives a call that sends him back to Afghanistan and straight into the heart of the darkest part of his history. The characters are strong-featured (though Hassan's cleft pallet, significant in the story, is all but invisible) and expressive, though murky coloring sometimes threatens to obscure linework. The art during Amir's recounting of his Afghan childhood is bathed in warm colors, contrasting well with the gray, muted colors of Afghanistan during Taliban rule. In a conflict that we now know has no easy solutions, a happy ending, while welcome, feels like nothing more than wishful thinking.
Customer Reviews
So moving! It made me feel all kinds of feelings. Scared, devastated, depressed, hopeless and warm…
It was all good.
Amazing. Must read
Loved reading this novel. Very powerful and moving. Highly recommend
Must Read
I have never been so moved by a novel. A must read for everyone