The Kite Runner

I really believe that blogging is an excellent way to share some of the things that I come across in my daily life that warrant a special mention and acknowledgment. This novel - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is one such thing.

I absolutely love Goodreads.com and one of the things I heart about it is the ratings and category system that they have. So for instance, there would be a category for 'Best Books of the 20th Century' or another one for 'Books that took me completely by surprise'. This latter category is where I often came across this book and did not give it much of a thought. Reading the summary of this book did not have much of an impact on me either as emotional sagas are really not my thing and this sounded like a frontrunner candidate for the same. So long story short, never bothered requesting this book from the library and frankly never planned to in the future as well.

That was until the day I came across this book in the mini library in my building and decided to pick it up on a last minute impulse. I almost put it down again but then thought hey, what the heck. And that is how I laid my hands on quite possibly one of the best books that I've read in recent times.

I remember wanting to start reading the first few pages purely out of curiosity. And that was it! That was all it took to get me hooked! The first thing that I noticed was the absolutely gripping writing style. The author seems to pull you into the world of the novel and it's characters from the first page. I truly believe some people 'write books' while others are 'writers'. Khaled Hosseini fits into the second category. And for me, these are the kind of books that are an absolute pleasure to read! (I can hardly wait to start reading the authors second novel - A Thousand Spendid Suns which is rumored to be even better than The Kite Runner.)

From this point on I would like to give a Spoiler Alert, so you may want to stop reading from here if you do not want anything of the book revealed. The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, an affluent Afghan boy and his best friend Hassan who is the house help. The story unfolds from a first person narrative (i.e. from Amir's perspective) which may throw some people off but first person narratives generally work well for me. The novel tells the story of their friendship and the turmoil that overtakes their lives following a certain incident. The story follows the protagonists life across two different nations and his eventual journey towards his homeland for redemption. Along the way, the readers are taken through Afghanistan's journey through the decades and how it has affected the lives of it's people.

I believe this novel has different shades. It is a mirror to the face of society and to us as human beings. Are we really this selfish? Does loyalty like Hassan's truly exist? Can humans enforce (or endure) such cruelty? And so on and so forth. This novel tells you a lot about human nature, what differentiates us from one another, and the irony that is life. It speaks about the impact that our decisions have, not just on us but also on those around us. 

Your heart goes out to some of the characters in the book. The story of Afghanistan is certainly heart wrenching as the author vividly takes the readers through decades of Afghan history. Throughout the book, I felt like I was watching the story unfold via words rather than reading it. And I would also like to state here that this has been the only book that literally gave me heart palpitations while reading some of the scenes. And that I believe is the mark of a great story and a great storyteller, to be able to have that kind of an effect on it's readers.

I think it is easy to understand why this novel has won so many awards but for me, it was the absolute magical pull into the novel and into the characters that the author was able to achieve that was the winner. Not only are you drawn into the deepest darkest intricacies of the human mind, but are also subjected to the pain of a nation to survive something that was not on accord of it's own calling. A wonderful, sad, and enlightening read.  If you can endure harsh truths and are looking for a novel with a powerful storyline, that will fascinate and grip you till the end, then I would highly recommend not missing this one!