When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. There is no act more wretched than stealing.”
The Kite Runner Review,
Reading ‘The Kite Runner‘ by Khaled Hosseini was like walking through a minefield of emotions. It wasn’t about disliking the writing style or finding it boring. No, it was the raw, gut-wrenching pain of the story that made it a constant struggle. This book tore at my heartstrings in ways I can’t even begin to describe.
This book hit me like a freight train of emotions. It wasn’t just sad; it was a cocktail of helplessness, anger, and a whole lot of other feelings I can’t even put into words. There were moments when I seriously considered giving up, the chapters too heavy to bear. But something about it kept pulling me back in, even though it made me feel sick to my stomach at times.
The injustice in the story was like a punch to the gut, leaving me furious and shaken. It tackled so many serious issues, but it was the themes of violence, injustice, and abuse that really got under my skin. I could barely manage to read more than a couple of chapters a day; it was that gut-wrenching.
Amir and Hassan’s story was a rollercoaster of horror, beauty, and everything in between. It left me feeling completely shattered, my emotions all over the place. And if this review seems a bit all over the map, blame it on the book hangover I’m still nursing.
“But we were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that.”
PLOT
Amir and Hassan, two inseparable friends growing up in Kabul, shared a bond stronger than blood. Their days were filled with laughter, mischief, and the thrill of kite running. When a local kite-fighting tournament emerged, Amir set his sights on victory, fueled by determination and aided by Hassan’s unwavering support.
Their triumph in the tournament should have been a moment of pure joy, but fate had other plans. In the aftermath, a dark incident shattered their friendship and rocked the very foundation of their trust. Suddenly, their lives veered off course, forever altered by the events of that fateful day.
“It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime, Amir,” he said.
*SPOILERS AHEAD
Amir
”I pretended I was reading from the book, flipping pages regularly, but I had abandoned the text altogether, taken over the story, and made up my own. Hassan, of course, was oblivious to this. To him, the words on the page were a scramble of codes, indecipherable, mysterious. Words were secret doorways and I held all the keys.”
I think I never disliked a protagonist as much as I disliked the narrator of this story. He was selfish, spoiled, and downright unethical.Not to mention a coward. The way he treated Hassan was just sickening, and his betrayal cut deep. How could he let his best friend suffer like that? Watch it all happen right before his eyes and just stand there…And to think he considered Hassan “just a Hazara” was infuriating.
But you know what? Watching him grapple with his guilt throughout the book was like witnessing a redemption story in the making. It almost felt satisfying. His past haunted him, but it also pushed him to confront his mistakes and grow as a person. By the end, I couldn’t help but feel proud of the person he’d become.(Although he is my least favourite protagonist still, I managed to forgive him later on in the story.)
That moment when he finally stood up for Sohrab and demanded respect for his nephew was a long time coming. I mean, it took 331 pages, but boy, was it worth the wait! Seeing him take a stand like that, it was like watching him finally come into his own and that paved the way for me to finally forgive him.
Hassan
Then Hassan did pick up a pomegranate. He walked toward me. He opened it and crushed it against his own forehead. ‘There,’ he croaked, red dipping down his face like blood. ‘Are you satisfied? Do you feel better?’ He turned around and started down the hill.
Hassan’s character was like a beacon of light in a dark and troubled world. His kindness and innocence were truly angelic, and it broke my heart to see him suffer.He was so pure and didn’t deserve the pain he had to endure.The way he forgave Amir, despite everything, was a testament to his pure heart.
But let’s be real, Hassan was too good for the cruelty of the world around him. He deserved so much more than what life handed him. Learning about Sohrab’s ordeal was like a punch to the gut. I could almost feel Hassan turning over in his grave, and it tore me apart to think of the pain he and his son endured.
I’ll never forget Hassan, and my love and respect for his character will always remain. He was a shining example of goodness in a world filled with darkness and deceit.
Baba
Baba was a complex character, no doubt about it. He saw the world in black and white, which made loving him a challenge, even though it sometimes felt like hating him a little was inevitable.
But despite his flaws, there was something undeniably compelling about Baba. He was a man of contradictions, all different shades of grey. It made him both likable and disagreeable at the same time. Finding out about his secret shed some light on his character, helping me understand him a little better.
What I admired most about Baba was his unwavering pursuit of righteousness, even when it meant facing some hard truths. His heart was in the right place, even if his actions weren’t always perfect.
That moment when he confronted the notion that war negate decency was a powerful reminder of his moral compass. And discovering his past actions was like a gut punch. And to think that he was somewhat responsible for the way things unfolded in the life of Amir and Hassan by hiding the truth from them, made his character weak in my eyes.
Conclusion
The Kite Runner Review & Rating;
I’d rate this book a 5 out of 5
I absolutely hated this book. I absolutely loved this book. This made me feel a lot of things that I can never unfeel. I fell in love with Khaled Hosseini’s writing style.. So much so that I couldn’t finish any other book for a long time because of how good this was and I never really got over it. This was my first Khaled Hosseini’s book and after reading this I say this: He might as well write a grocery list and I’d be the first to read every bit of it. About this book I’d say, it was something I was looking for. In just 350 something pages, Khaled Hosseini delivered a masterpiece. The pace, the writing, the description, the events everything was just perfectly woven together. Next in line i have his second book “A Thousand Splendid Suns” and I have huge expectations from it . I will review it soon.
“For you a thousand times over!”
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