The Kite Runner

Months after reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, I finally read The Kite Runner. This was his first novel, and like ATSS, is terribly sad. His books paint a bleak (and I assume, realistic) picture of modern Afghanistan.

The Kite Runner tells the story of two boys, one the servant of the other. They grow up together, one well-educated and privileged, the other illiterate and humble. They're best friends, and unbeknown to them - half-brothers as well. The rich boy betrays the servant boy, forcing him and his father, who is also a servant to the family, to leave. The rich boy's father is devastated because he knows both boys are his sons.

Eventually the wealthy father and son are forced to flee Kabul, immigrating to America where they establish themselves in a community of displaced Afghans in California. The boy earns a college degree and gets married. He is a successful writer, and happy, though he and his wife cannot have children. One day, unexpectedly, he gets a letter from his father's oldest, dearest friend. He goes back to Afghanistan, learns the truth of his childhood and has the opportunity to atone for the sins of his youth.

Having read ATSS first, it was difficult to read this book, which in comparison, doesn't really have a happy ending. I suppose I'm jaded, a child of middle-class America, where my biggest problem as a child was which friend I'd have for a sleepover on Friday night. The children of war-torn countries like Afghanistan are poor and hungry. They witness death often, raise their siblings, care for their parents...endure rape, abuse and injustice. I cannot imagine living without any hope.

The Kite Runner was made into a movie. I'm not anxious to see it. Just reading about such terrible events was hard enough. I don't want to see them too.