A
first novel by an Afghan physician who lives in San Francisco, The Kite Runner
is a story of friendship and love, fathers and sons, and betrayal and
atonement told against the backdrop of recent Afghanistan history.
As youngsters in pre-Revolutionary Afghanistan, Amir and Hassan are
best friends though of different classes. Amir is an upper-class
Pashtun, and Hassan is the illiterate son of his father’s
Hazara servant. Both motherless, they enjoy kite fighting and roaming
the streets of Kabul together.
The friendship is tested, and Amir betrays Hassan, prompting Hassan and
his father to leave. Shortly after Amir and his father flee the country
as Soviet troops arrive. Amir never gets over his guilt about Hassan.
Years later, Amir, then a successful writer living in California, is
asked to come home by an old family friend, who says, “There
is a way to be good again.” Amir learns when he’s
back in Afghanistan that being good is a dangerous mission to rescue
Hassan’s orphaned son from the Taliban.
Compelling as a universal tale of relationships, The Kite Runner
also offers an informative recent history of Afghanistan for Americans
pondering what our military is up against there.
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