The Kite Runner

Taliban rose to power, before Russia invaded, when Afghanistan was a nice country to live in as it was ruled fairly by a King. The story takes place between the year 1964 to 2002, following Amir and his journey from a little boy to a man. Amir faces challenges as every boy does, family, religion, school, and acceptance. He tells us the story in a sad, monotone way that will leave you crying for the unfairness of life.

Amir stats off his story when he was very young. How it was always his and his father, Baba, after his mother (Baba’s wife) died giving birth to him. Yet it was not, as Baba father adopted Ali when he was young as a servant, then Ali and his run away wife had a son named Hassan. Amir spent his days playing with his friend Hassan.

Winter was every kid in Kabul favorite season as it meant no school for the icy season. It lasted for three months, in that time Amir would play cards with Hassan, build snowmen, and enjoy the free Russian movies on Tuesday mornings. Yet winter brought out the sport in Ami as he was a great kite fighter. Every winter districts in Kabul would hold kite-fighting tournaments. The goal if the tournament is to cut everyone else kites by breaking their glass string. The winner is the last person kite left flying. The real fun comes to after the kite is cut. Once it is cut it is free for the taking. The kite runner is the kids who run trying to catch the falling kite. When one of them do get the kite, it is now theirs. Where Amir is a great kite fighter, Hassan is the best kite runner in their district, and perhaps all of Kabul. He just knows where the kite is going to land, even if it involves waking in the different direction than everyone else. Baba would buy Amir and Hassan a kite each winter, as they were better kite fighters, than kite makers. Amir knew the key to Baba’s heart was the win the tournament. After all Baba had when he was a kid, so why should Amir? To prove he was Baba’s son, Amir knew he had to win. But what would he put in the way of his goal? What would make him stop, what was greater than Baba’s love? Nothing. Amir knew he would do anything to win the tournament, even if that meant scarifying his

Khalaed Hosseni, an Afghan-American writer, wrote this book about where he was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, a place he returned to in 2001, after leaving it at age eleven. This heart wrenching story tells about Amir, from a young boy to a grown man and how much guilt he carries in his life. From killing his mother, to trying to get his father love, to his friend Hassan who he treated like dirt. Amir never referred to Hassan as his friend, even though they clearly were. “Then he would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break”; was what Ali told Amir and Hassan all the time. They were. Raised together like brothers, played like friends, yet in public Amir referred to Hassan as his servant’s son. Chapter seven in this book changes it completely. Before then it was a bit dry, you loved Hassan, and did not mind Amir, but could not tell what the whole story was about. Read to chapter seven, then you can make your decision on the story. Historical wise it kept accurate with the death of the king, and Russia invading in the winter of 1979, and how Baba and Amir dealt with their country changing. The best villain, in the history of villains, comes as a seventeen year old boy who love picking on twelve year old, Assef. Assef is a sociopath who makes a mark in both Amir and Hassan life, and one of the best