Reading List

ISBN:

1594480001

Format:

Paperback, 384 pages

Publish Date:

April, 2004

Publisher:

30

Other Format(s):

Hardcover, Audiobook

This first Afghan novel to be written in English is an eye-opening stunner. It manages to tell a very human and immediate emotional tale while at the same time opening up whole vistas of national experience that are both distant to the average American reader yet strikingly relevant in light of current events. An epic of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, The Kite Runner begins in the 1970s, during the final days of Afghanistan’s monarchy, then proceeds through years of Soviet invasion, to the atrocities of the Taliban, to the turmoil of the present. An unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a child of wealth and a child of the underclass, this is an exquisitely crafted work of fiction set in a land in the process of being destroyed. It is about friendship, betrayal, and redemption, set against the turbulent backdrop of Afghanistan during the past 30 years. The author, Khaled Hosseini, was born in Kabul, the son of a diplomat who received political asylum in the United States in 1980. This, his debut book, garnered uniformly enthusiastic reviews, including that of the New York Times: “In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini gives us a vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence – forces that continue to threaten them even today.”

Here is a book that manages to be both rewarding modern fiction and a valuable crash-course in the mindset and challenges of a troubled country – a country whose destiny is now intertwined with our own. As an insight into the Afghan experience, this is an invaluable read.