Maya's Reaction pgs. 1 - 40

           Not only is The Kite Runner easy to read, but I want to keep reading; I found it hard to put it down at certain points even though nothing particularly climactic has happened yet. Something about Hosseini’s writing style makes all the images he presents seem very real. I think this is what reels the reader in during these first forty pages. 

            Even though this is only the first forty pages, certain points in the plot are heartbreaking. Amir, even though he is still young, battles for his father’s attention. He wants to be a part of his father’s life but his father seems to be occupied with something else most of the time. He seemed impatient when Amir came to him after learning about sin from the Mullah. However, Baba did tell his son something that holds a lot of truth. When he described all other sins as “variations of theft”, I completely agreed. I also think it was best that Baba told Amir to not let the “self-righteous monkeys” brain wash him. Nonetheless, Amir feels hated in his own home, a feeling that no child should ever have to experience. He blames his mother’s death on himself, thinking he “robbed” his father of his beloved wife. Amir even hears his father repeatedly say that there was something wrong with him, something was missing in him just because he was different. 

          Then, there is Hassan. Hassan’s poor father, Ali, has to deal with the taunts from others because he is disabled. It has apparently happened so much that Ali now has no reaction to the jeers, he just keeps on going. But, Amir is an admirable man. Sanaubar, Ali’s former wife, is obviously still a child herself when she gives birth to Hassan. She shows no love whatsoever for her child. This indifference is apparently so great that she leaves just five days after having him. Her behavior obviously goes on to haunt Hassan being that when he encounters the soldiers when he is walking with Amir, they make derogatory remarks about her. I am in no way saying that one is better than the other, but Amir knows his mother is deceased so she will not come back because of that; Hassan has to live with the fact that his mother is alive and has chosen to never see him because she does not love him at all.