The Kite Runner Basic Book Review

Throughout this mind-blowing novel by Khaled Hosseini we are overwhelmed with tragic events, one after the other. The Kite Runner is a realistic fiction about a boy named Amir who grew up in Kabul and had to flee to America after the Soviet Invasion in Afghanistan. As a college graduate, living in San Francisco with a beautiful wife and home, he gets a life changing phone call telling him that he should come back home to Kabul to become “good again”. Amir then travels back to Afghanistan to clear up his restless past that came back to hunt him. While there, he realizes how badly the invasion affected his home. Amir tries to do everything in his power to make up for all the bad he did, but gets caught up in some life-risking obstacles along the way.

Amir is the main character in this novel. Throughout his childhood, he has a servant named Hassan who is like his best friend. These two characters have a very strange relationship as little kids, mainly because Hassan is Hazara and the society looks down on Hazaras. Therefore,  Amir doesn’t admit Hassan is his friend because he’s ashamed of him. Hassan is always standing up for Amir and dealing with his crap because Amir’s a coward and Hassan’s a loyal friend. Baba, Amir’s dad, seems to like Hassan better than Amir because he has more courage than Amir. And one time, Hassan even got raped for sticking up for Amir, and the cold part is Amir was there the entire time hiding and didn’t say a word! But now Amir is all grown up and takes a visit back to Afghanistan to find Hassan’s son, Sohrab, after the Russian’s invaded the country and killed Hassan and his wife. Amir goes through hell and back trying to get Sohrab to a safe place. He eventually gets Sohrab but before he did, he gets beaten half to death with brass knuckles by the guy who raped Hassan back when they were little. But thank God Sohrab was there to save him with a slingshot. Now this may seem like a lot and very nice of Amir to risk his life for Sohrab , but he’s actually being very selfish. Allow me to explain why.

Amir went to Afghanistan to clear up his past regarding Hassan. Sohrab just happened to be a factor in a way he could achieve this for the simple fact he’s Hassan’s son. He is doing quite a few nice gestures for Sohrab, but when you look at the big picture he’s only trying to get rid of his guilt so he can have a better life and live in peace. When Amir was on the phone with Rahim Khan, he thought,

“I knew it wasn’t just Rahim Khan on the line. It was my past of unatoned sins."(pg.1)

This quote shows that the entire reason Amir went back to Afghanistan was because he had a past of unatoned sins he needed to make up for. Amir neglected and used Hassan and was not a loyal friend to him like Hassan was to Amir. In other words, Amir was being a fake friend mainly because Hassan was Hazara, no other reason but that. Now when his past rises back up to the surface, he feels he owes Hassan, which he does, for how he treated him when they were kids in order to put his past to rest. Getting Sohrab and giving him a safe place to live is the perfect way to repay Hassan in Amir’s case.

Throughout Amir’s life, his dad Baba was not very kind to him but lightened up a bit since Amir grew up. I believe Baba is beginning more nice to Amir because he was growing old and had cancer, and needs someone to take care of him, although he won’t admit it. But Baba is still disrespectful and mean to Amir for no apparent reason.

For example, when Amir had to almost force him to go to the hospital because Baba thinks no doctor can help him. Then Baba finds out that his pulmonologist is Russian and says,

“I don’t care where he was born, he’s Roussi...I swear on your mother’s face I’ll break his arm if he tries to touch me.”(pg.155)

Now I know Baba has a very big grudge against the Russians, but this doctor didn’t do anything to him, he had no right to be as racist as he did.

Even after Baba gets a new doctor, and he offers Baba chemotherapy for his cancer, he rejects the offer in an arrogant way. Then Amir tries to persuade him to get it, once again being mean, old, and stubborn, Baba replies,

“Don’t you challenge me in public, Amir. Ever. Who do you think you are?”(pg.156)

All Amir was trying to do is help him out, not intentionally offend him in any way.

Now some may argue, that Baba isn’t mean because he got Amir a new car for his graduation and he built an orphanage. But when you think about it, money can’t buy love. Baba also spent all day every day building an orphanage for bad kids and one of them was a guy(Assef) who raped his son, Hassan. On top of that, he has never shown Amir any mercy when he is hurt and he has only seemed proud of him twice in his whole lifetime. When he won the kite competition and graduated from community college, and Amir was about 23 already.

Baba knew that he was almost at the end of life and probably regretted how he treated Amir in his childhood, so Baba is doing everything he can to make up for it. Now doesn’t this remind you of a certain someone. Yes, this connects right back to Amir’s feelings towards Hassan. as they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I believe this novel is based upon the ultimate test of friendship. It allows us to realize the heights some go to just to attempt to put their past to rest. It shows us how you cannot do bad things and expect no aftershock, those very things you do come back to hunt you. It’ a little thing called Karma.