REVIEW OF THE KITE RUNNER BY KHALED HOSSEINI

Being his very first novel, The Kite Runner was written by Khaled Hosseini. The story revolves
around two childhood friends, Aamir and Hasan and their families based in Kabul. Aamir and
Hasan are portrayed as very close friends yet, there’s a sense of jealousy from Aamir’s side
though, because Hasan is the son of their old servant Ali. Due to Hasan’s emerging talents, Aamir
couldn’t not meet his father’s expectations for which Aamir never accepted Hasan as his true
friend and he still thought of him as a servant’s son. Hasan and his father Ali were Hazara and it
was told in the story that how people back then was also bullied due their ethnicity and race. Both
Hasan and Aamir were raised without mothers and were fed by same woman. He used to take care
of his Aamir agha a lot. Hasan’s scencerity towards Aamir needed no proof for whenever any boy
bullied Aamir, Hasan used to stand up for him. The writer explained about their childhood in quite
detail. Rahim Khan was a very close friend of Aamir’s father and was also very close to Aamir.
Many things about his father, were told by Rahim khan.
A kite tournament takes place every winter in different neighbourhoods of Kabul. All the Afghan
kids actively participate in this tournament. All afghan families used to come out and enjoy this
event. In winter of 1975, it was being held in the neighbourhood of Wazir Akbar Khan. Aamir and
Hasan were really excited and their preparations were at their peak. They worked hard on their
kites. Aamir was a very good kite fighter while Hasan was an amazing kite runner. They made a
perfect partnership. After winning this tournament, Aamir wanted to gain his father’s attention,
while Hasan unknowingly proved himself to be the most sincere friend one can ever find. Nobody
knew that this kite flying tournament would change their lives, forever. Aamir won the
tournament and also the path to his father’s heart but lost the most valuable thing he has in this life
which was Hasan’s friendship.
Amir cheated, lied, and proved himself to be a coward. While Hasan showed himself be the truest
friend one could ever have. There’s a huge lesson in this book about speaking and standing against
evil or else one will be haunted by it forever. After the life changing incident between Aamir and
Hasan, Aamir planted his birthday gifts under Hasan’s mattress. He told his concocted story in the
most unbelievable way to his father. To everyone’s surprise Hasan accepted the stealing and this
was a slap on Aamir’s face. Aamir understood it was his last sacrifice for him. It was this moment
when Ali told them that they would not live with them anymore. Aamir wanted to tell the truth, he
wanted to say that he was not worthy of this sacrifice, he was a cheat, a snake in the grass. But a
part of him was glad that his father would dismiss them. But his father stunned him by his actions
and words. He saw his father pleading to Ali that he should not leave but Ali was adamant that
they will not stay. Ali’s unforgiving look made Aamir realize what pain and destruction he had
caused.
It was during March 1981 Aamir and his father moved from Afghanistan due to the soviet war.
They had moved to Fremont, California. On Sundays they used to sell used goods in San Jose flea
market. In July 1984, they met General Iqbal Taheri who was a decorated general in Kabul. It was
then, when Aamir started to take interest in his daughter. He would go and talk to her when the
general went on a stroll and then think about it whole night. It was due to his father’s illness he
decided to marry Soraya. But before preceding the relationship, Soraya talked to Aamir about her
past. She fearlessly shared everything from her past and was confident while Aamir always ran
away from it. Aamir accepted her with her past and the wedding festivities started according to
Afghan traditions. All the wedding festivities described, showed how colourful is the Afghan
culture. One day, when his father went to bed after dinner, he never woke up. Soraya stayed with
him in this time of sorrow.
During different events, Soraya used to hear things about her past from other people. Aamir was
unbothered by her past because he had his own. It was relatable because when a mistake is
committed by a woman, everyone talks about it but the men who go to night clubs and drink, are
not answerable to anyone. From this, being childless, their lives went on until Aamir received a
call from Rahim Khan in Pakistan. He called Aamir to tell him about Hasan speaking of which, it
still used to rise a sense of guilt. He told him everything about how he went to find Hasan, met his
family and took them to their old house back because Rahim Khan couldn’t live alone there. He
gave Aamir a letter from Hasan and after reading that, mountains of grief broke down on him.
Hasan’s departure from this world was a big tragedy for Aamir. Rahim Khan wanted him to bring
Hasan’s son Sohrab from Afghanistan to which Aamir refused until he got to know the biggest
truth of his life. It was bigger than the truth he had kept to himself his whole life.
On his way to Afghanistan, Aamir saw the ruined condition of the people and how the Taliban had
made their life miserable. While searching for him, they reached the Taliban official.
During the meeting, Aamir saw Sohrab was being abused. It was the matter of few sentences that
the Talib revealed his identity. Aamir couldn’t believe his eyes after recognizing him. He didn’t
know how many bones he broke, how many wounds and fractures he got while taking Sohrab
from there. His eyes opened in hospital. He didn’t remember if he had given the Talib a great
fight, but he knew it was Sohrab’s sling shot which saved his life. His life was saved by the son of
a man, who Aamir couldn’t help at his worst. This feeling of shame was eating him inside. During
his recovery period, he tried to make small talks with Sohrab to get him familiar with him but
Sohrab spoke very little. He also got rid of the biggest truth of his life during that time and
decided to adopt Sohrab. It took a lot of time for Sohrab to adjust into America and a new family.
No one knew, the walls between Sohrab and Aamir would go down by the same thing which
separated Hasan and Aamir.
“For you a thousand times over” this phrase was used by Hasan many times showing his
friendship and the same phrase melted the walls between Sohrab and Aamir. Indeed Sohrab was a
way to remove Aamir’s past sins and guilt. It’s not that Aamir was greedy to get rid of his sins;
instead it was a bonus that he got for becoming father to Sohrab.
“The past claws its way out” is another line I relate to, because it’s not easy to move on from your
past. Even if you do, some people, or things keep reminding you of it. Your credibility is badly
affected and things get really hard sometimes. This novel is thrilling, tragic and moving at the
same time. It is a gripping and emotional story of betrayal and redemption.