"The Kite Runner"

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is by far one of the most intriguing books I have ever read. Basically, it kept me reading from the beginning to the end, with only two breaks, which I took reluctantly.

You are a bit confused by the title of this book, but once you start reading it, it is anything but confusing. It is a heart-wrenching story of love, hate, grief, dedication, betrayal, and jealousy.

Amir is a boy of privilege. He is an Afghan, through whom we see a picture of Afghanistan as it was before the Soviet occupation (1979-1989), which forced Amir and his father to flee their homeland, and then we see a brutal portrait of the Taliban, when Amir is forced to return to Afghanistan, as a man, to face the fears of his childhood to redeem himself by saving a person who is very important to someone else in his past. In the end, the person Amir saves is the grace that allows him to finally begin living.

Like Amir, we are forced to live the hollowness of his life, step-by-step. We learn certain truths, that are not always self-evident, as he journeys from being a spoiled little boy, to a young man on the brink of poverty, back to a self-made man, who finally finds that there is more to his noble father's love.

Admittedly, there were many parts that were difficult to read, because of the personal pain you feel as you connect with the characters and their situations throughout the book. Certainly, there were times I felt as if I couldn't go on with the story. I couldn't look around the next corner to see what was coming, because I was simply afraid of the shadows that lurked there, and the pain they represented.

In the end, he finds out that he is a better man than his father. He is able to stand up and take responsibility for those in his life. And for that, we can respect and admire Amir.