“This is one of those unforgettable stories that stay with you for years. All the great themes of literature and of life are the fabric of this extraordinary novel: love, honor, guilt, fear, redemption,” says Chilean author Isabel Allende. Hosseini’s powerful and informative first person novel shows not only how Afghanistan was changed throughout the Cold War, but also shows the struggles and hardships that the people of that time had to live through.
Amir and his best friend who happens to be his father’s servant, Hassan, live their childhood in a once peaceful and beautiful Afghanistan. Back in the late 1900’s, Afghanistan was a great place to live although they had to deal with hardships like poverty, thirst, and the town bully and sociopath, Assef. They seem happy enough, but things go awry in an annual kite running competition. [Kite running is a sport in which teams that consist of two people go against one another to see who can keep their kite in the air for the longest time. When the glass string breaks, the team must find (run) the kite and bring it back as a trophy). When Hassan and Amir go to run their winning kite, Hassan is cornered in an alley by Assef. Assef wants to keep the kite but Hassan refuses to give it to them. A hidden and horrified Amir witnesses Assef beat and sodomize his best friend.
From then on, Amir has to deal with the feelings of guilt and fear that he didn’t do anything to stop Assef from assaulting his best friend.
The rest of the story shows how a once beautiful and wonderful country went from amazing to terrible. In 1979, Russian soldiers invaded Afghanistan as a part of the Cold War. They destroyed everything in their path, and forced surviving civilians into Pakistan.
Hosseini also included the birth of the greatly feared Taliban. How they executed innocent people in the streets, and how they went against all that is humane. He showed how different a country that you once called your home can be destroyed right in front of your eyes; and how hopeless you can feel when you know there is nothing you can do.
I would recommend this book to anybody who can handle a depressing story. I found it very moving and very frightening. To think of the terror that you would feel if you were in Amir or Hassan’s situation is very unnerving. If you want a book that is really well written, and makes you grateful about what you have, this is the book for you.