Book Review: Kite Runner
Kite Runner… A must run for this bookOne day while I was surfing through the channels, I came across a movie named Kite Runner which was being broadcasted on HBO. Though initially I just gave it a passing glance, it seemed impressive with the passage of time and so I continued to watch the entire movie. And trust me , the movie was amazing. Right from acting to script and direction, everything was awesome. Later on, while talking with my friend, I discovered that there was a book named Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and the movie was an adaptation of it.
Finally I got an opportunityto read the book and it was more impressive than the movie. The story revolves around an Afghan family living in Kabul. The characters essentially consist of Amir and his father Baba, their Hazara servant Ali and his son Hassan and Baba’s old friend and business partner Rahim Khan. Hazara are the people who are treated as lower communities in Afghanistan. Amir and Hassan were good friends but Amir was jealous of Hassan’s bravery and loyalty. Amir’s father, Baba also felt that Amir lacked the bravery to stand for himself and his loved ones.
Hassan was always there to rescue Amir from difficut situations and would take the blame for all the mischief done by both of them. Hassan was also a famous Kite runner in Kabul. Since Amir was educated, he always teased Hassan for his illiteracy. There was one incident which happened during the Kite Flying competition which created guilt in Amir’s heart but pride in Baba’s. To get rid of that guilt Amir blamed Hassan for a theft which led to Ali & his son Hassan leaving the place, where Ali and Baba had grown together; the place where Amir and Hassan were good friends; the place where Hassan would do anything for his best friend Amir. Hassan always used to say, “For you, a thousand times over.”
When the Russians took over Afghanistan, Baba and Amir left Kabul and started a new life in USA. Amir became a writer, who wrote friction. He fell in love with Soraya and they both got married. Their life went along smoothly but soon they found that Soraya was incapable of conceiving and Baba’s life came to an end. One morning Amir received a call from Baba’s old friend Rahim Khan, who invited him to Pakistan and gave them a hope of getting their life back to normal again. When he met Rahim Khan, he enquired about life in Kabul after he had left and also about Rahim Khan’s ill health.
Rahim Khan informed Amir that Hassan got married to a Hazara woman named Farzana and they have 1 son named Sohrab. Ali, Hassan’s father got killed by a land mine. When Rahim Khan left Kabul for Pakistan, Hassan and his wife got killed by Taliban and their son, Sohrab is in an orphanage in Kabul. The guilt which had built over the years in Amir’s heart could now be corrected by bringing Sohrab back from the orphanage in Afghanistan.
The story is very well written. Many of the scenes will bring tears in your eyes like when Hassan proves his 100% loyalty towards Amir, when Hassan is mistreated by another Afghani child, when Russian soldiers misuse their power and exploit females, when Taliban kills innocent people in the name of religion, when Sohrab is abused by Taliban and when the innocence of a child is destroyed by terrible things happening to him.
After reading this book we feel bad about the things that happened in a country which was full of joy, country where respect was given while addressing everyone like Amir agha, Soraya jan. A country where a smile on child’s face is eluded by starvation and poverty, where Hazara children are treated like dirt, where people live under constant force of Taliban.
The story not just talks about events that happened in Afghanistan but also reinforces the importance of moral values like loyalty, friendship, kindness, bravery, helplessness and compulsion. We bury the memories of our past deeds and lead a new life but sooner or later the ghost of the past comes back to haunt us. Kite Runner embodies the real definition of friendship. The loyalty and love in friendship is eternal whether it is in the form of Hassan, who will do anything for Amir or in form of Amir, who puts his life in danger to save Hassan’s son Sohrab and bring him back home.
I just love the line, “For you, a thousand times over” and for this book, ready to read thousand times over.
