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Book Review - The Kite Runner
Submitted by Staff on Sun, 2005-04-03 12:00.
"Hey, who’s this bunch of real people we’re bombing the shit out of..."
The Kite Runner
Don’t read this book if you want to think of Arabs as a collective of nomadic barbarians arbitrarily settling in cities infused with Islamic hatred of the West. Like all artworks that dispel such collectivist stereotypes, The Kite Runner carries a moral that should be rung from the rafters: "People are people." Conversation between the author and a hotel manager in Islamabad, Pakistan: "Yes," I said, my pulse quickening. How could he be so oblivious to my apprehension? He shifted the the newspaper to his other hand, resumed the fanning. "They want bicycles, now." "Who?" "My boys," he said. "They’re saying, "Daddy, Daddy, please buy us bicycles and we’ll not trouble you. Please, Daddy!" He gave a short laugh through his nose. "Bicycles. Their mother will kill me, I swear to you." Little touches of common humanity color this book from cover to cover. The sheer storytelling ability of Mr. Hosseni is something to behold; the book is difficult to set aside. You love his family and identify with their struggles. I was struck by how much I cared for the main character, the author. His innocent ways of the childhood he recounts remind me of my own, on the other side of the planet. The story is a personal one of cowardice and redemption, spanning a thirty year range, from when the author is a young teenager in Kabul, Afghanistan, to the point he returns to Afghanistan from America attempting to find his boyhood friend. His family—the story reads as if it is literally autobiographical, which it is not—becomes refugees during the Soviet era civil war, and locates in the Bay Area, California. An appealing characteristic of The Kite Runner is its seamlessness, with all the actions of the protagonist flowing naturally as his good life proceeds as best it can regardless of the backdrop of order and chaos. The backdrop is important to thinking Americans, since few have had reason to know much about that region of the world. One is struck by how people left free develop naturally as friends of other people left free… across boundaries. As for the morality of these strangers, I recall these early passages between the author and his father. They convey a universal morality that transcends the superstitious horde that may come to empower their governments or ours: "Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that? "When you kill a man, you steal a life," Baba said. "You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?" For me the book helps to kindle a vision of world peace where goods and services cross boundaries all the time, armies hardly ever. It reinforces that noninterventionist, free trade libertarian foreign policy that seems so unrealizable in a world where "moneyed suits in power" manipulate (steal) countries like so many disposable chess pieces. And dispose of the countries’ people as readily. The Kite Runner was a New York Times Bestseller and a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year in 2003. Deservedly so. It remains a timely addition to the reading table in 2005 and beyond. by: Khaled Hosseini  List Price: $15.00 Amazon.com's Price: $9.75 You Save: $5.25 (35%)as of 02/09/2010 05:13 EST Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 813.6 EAN: 9781594480003 Edition: Later printing ISBN: 1594480001 Label: Riverhead Trade Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 400 Publication Date: April 27, 2004 Publisher: Riverhead Trade Release Date: April 27, 2004 Studio: Riverhead Trade Features:
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Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: The timely and critically acclaimed debut novel that's becoming a word-of-mouth phenomenon... Outline Review In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contem Amazon.com Review: In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do. He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political turmoil--in this case, Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over. And he does this on his first try. The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted. Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty. In part, it is these demons and the sometimes impossible quest for forgiveness that bring him back to his war-torn native land after it comes under Taliban rule. ("...I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.") Some of the plot's turns and twists may be somewhat implausible, but Hosseini has created characters that seem so real that one almost forgets that The Kite Runner is a novel and not a memoir. At a time when Afghanistan has been thrust into the forefront of America's collective consciousness ("people sipping lattes at Starbucks were talking about the battle for Kunduz"), Hosseini offers an honest, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, but always heartfelt view of a fascinating land. Perhaps the only true flaw in this extraordinary novel is that it ends all too soon. --Gisele Toueg Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Excellent and InformativeI really enjoyed this book, for its value in learning a bit more about Afghanistan and its people as well as for the story. It is a very personal story about a wealthy Afghan boy, with intriguing characters that go through a disturbing chain of events along with their country. I highly recommend this book and I look forward to reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. Rating:  - Son spoiled by selfishnessEight years ago when I read The Kite Runner, I loved it, even after hearing a list of its flaws pointed out by my fellow book club members. After reading it now, eight years later, I still like it, but no so much. Biased at the start by certain knowledge I didn't have the first time and being the parent of a son near the age of the two main characters whose pre-teen lives were changed "in the winter of 1975," I was bothered much more than before by: the amount of violence, profanity and coincidental ... Read More Rating: - Wonderful isn't a strong enough wordI absolutely loved this book from the first page to the last. It is beautifully written. I learned so much about a misunderstood country. I was haunted by the characters' trials. I was inspired by their choices. It is just a great read - A Thousand Splendid Suns is also great. I would give this book the edge between the two, but both are well worth your time. You won't want to put them down. I don't reread many books, but I would this one! Rating: - Amazing!!I just found my favorite new author! This book is absolutely amazing!! The story is incredible and the writing is so well done that I literally couldn't put the book down, and when I did, I couldn't wait until I could pick it up again! The author paints such a clear picture of life in Afghanistan and the hardships and triumphs facing the characters. By the end of the book I felt like I knew each character personally and loved each of them! It was truly sad to read the final word of the book ... Read More Rating: - A Powerful, Heart-Wrenching Tale That You Cannot Miss!Wow. At first, this book made me feel really stupid. I knew very little about the different religious sects within the middle east. Honestly, I knew very little about the war between the Russians and Afghans. I had to do a little research on the internet to understand some things. I have to say, I feel smarter for reading this book. It is a great work of historical (recent historical?) fiction. The story and relationship between Amir and Hassan is heart-wrenching, as is the relationship ... Read More 
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what page?
i have this book and i wanted to know what page is this quote on:
When you kill a man, you steal a life," Baba said. "You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?"
[Unknown, that writer isn't with us anymore. --MJ]
pg 16 of the novel
pg 16 of the novel
thx u man or who evr u r cuz
thx u man or who evr u r cuz of u im able to finish my project
[uhm, sure, glad to help? --Ed.]
p.18
p.18