First Post

My thoughts on The Kite Runner will be slightly biased because I have already read the book. It is slightly upsetting to have an idea of the direction of the story so quickly. However, that being said, even in the first forty pages, I am picking up on details that I don’t recall from my first read through.

Anyways, the book is a refreshing change of pace from Atlas Shrugged. At the start, Amir, who is now living in the United States, discusses how a single “frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975” changed his life forever. He proceeds to begin his story. I sympathize with Hassan, who has had a very unlucky life. His mother abandoned him five days after birth; he has a cleft lip, is illiterate, and was born into a life of servitude. With the story being told from the view of a child, I find it interesting to read Amir’s immature and childish thoughts. The thoughts, while heartless, are understandable. His feelings of jealousy stem from guilt; he blames himself for the death of his mother and sees that as justification for his father’s disappointment.

When Amir starts to write stories, he discovers he has a true talent. While his father remains uninterested, both Rahim and Hassan praise him. His story deals with the danger of greed and death. When Hassan hears the story, he questions Amir’s protagonist’s actions, which angers Amir.  Hassan seems like he is a clever, sincere, innocent, and caring person. I cannot get a clear reading from Amir, but I am not particularly fond of him so far. He wavers between caring and selfish. I am eager to see how Amir and Hassan’s relationship unfolds as they grow up, with the violence from the coup lingering in the background.   

Ryan Pearson