The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner is a wonderful book written by Khaled Hosseini portraying the lives of Amir, the first person narrator, Hassan, his closest friend, and Amir’s family. Taking place in the ramshackle areas of Afghanistan, the people are living in conditions being torn apart by the problems of the Middle East.
The book starts out introducing us to Amir, the first-person narrator. He currently lives in San Francisco, but seeing a kite in the air reminds him of his past times in Afghanistan with Hassan. Amir and Hassan were the closest of friends, always backing each other up. We learn that Amir’s goal while at home is to impress his father, Baba. Because Amir is more of an introverted, literature based person, Baba, an architect, is let down; which leaves Amir thinking he did something wrong.
His first main memory he goes into detail is about his story he makes up. He reads it to Hassan, and when he gets Hassan’s approval, he wants to share it with Baba. Baba doesn’t pay any attention, setting Amir’s spirits down. That night, gunshots rang through the town scaring the whole family. They all believe it was the communists, and fear it will be the start of a war.
The year jumps to 1975, and thee annual kite-flying competition is in their town. Amir joins with his glass-coated lined kite with Hassan the kite retriever (kite runner). Amir miraculously wins (although he still fails to impress Baba) and Hassan runs after the kite. After accepting his well-deserved applauds, Amir sets out to find his buddy. When Amir hears the sound of a fight from behind a corner, to his astonishment it is Hassan being beaten up by Assef. Assef is the notorious bully, who mainly picks on the Hazara’s (such as Hassan). After a few brutal minutes, Hassan is beaten to a pulp and Amir decides it’s best not to intervene, so he runs away. Fifteen minutes later when Hassan returns, bloody and sore, Amir can’t hide his emotions and cries into baba’s chest.
