The Kite Runner
2003
- nyt:trade_fiction_paperback=2008-10-26
- male friendship
- betrayal
- fiction
- social classes
- boys
- nyt:trade_fiction_paperback=2009-09-26
- bacha bazi
- soviet-afghan war
- mullahs
The story
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 an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies. A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic. ([source][1]) [1]: https://khaledhosseini.com/books/the-kite-runner/
What it’s like
Warm, sun-faded memories of Kabul's streets give way to a deeper unease: this is a novel of long, reflective first-person passages, unhurried in its scene-setting (kite fights over rooftops, pomegranate trees, the dust and bustle of bazaars) and then sharpened by stretches of quiet dread. The prose is plain, earnest and lucid, the voice of a grown man looking back, so the sensory world arrives through clear, specific details rather than ornament. Its vibe is melancholic and tender, a slow-burning ache with a rush of guilt and hope running through it. Pacing is steady, with long stretches of childhood intimacy broken by sudden, shocking turns that land hard. The emotional register is grief, shame and the possibility of atonement, following a boy who failed his closest friend and a man trying to make that right. Intensity is significant: there is a violent assault on a child, scenes of cruelty under the Taliban, and frequent references to war and bloodshed, all rendered directly rather than graphically. Best for readers who want a serious, emotionally heavy novel about friendship, fathers and sons, and moral reckoning, and who are ready for a hard read.
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