Raoul's Final Reaction

The Kite Runner is probably the most powerful book I have ever read. Filled with drama, friendship, and action, The Kite Runner manages to engage the reader. Once I picked up The Kite Runner, I found it hard to put down. The amazing story line allowed me to read through the novel as if it was water, even though I am a slow reader and have almost no attention span. If you ask me The Kite Runner is a must read!

First of all, I liked that the novel was written in first person. Because the novel was written in first person, Hosseini allowed us to get into the mind of Amir (our narrator/protagonist) and read his thoughts. I feel like the point of view was appropriate for The Kite Runner, in that the emotional/logical attachment between the reader and the protagonist was made. A great indicator of this is the movie. The movie was not written in the first person and because of this we unfortunately lost a significant amount of the emotional attachment with Amir. Hosseini made a great decision to write The Kite Runner in the first person.

Second of all, I liked the comparison of old and new Kabul (Afghanistan). When Amir went back to Kabul, he experienced a shock. The Kabul that was once there no longer existed. The novel’s comparison of the way Kabul and large parts of the Middle East were before the revolution to after the revolution was extremely detailed. I believe that this description by Hosseini gave me a better understanding of how the Taliban destroyed Afghanistan. In Lebanon (where many of my family members live and I am from), there was a similar yet less severe revolution. Hezbollah, a Shi’a Islamic militant group and political party, did to Lebanon as the Taliban did to Afghanistan. For me, it was interesting to see how much damage a revolution could do to a country. Because I never saw Lebanon before the revolution The Kite Runner helped me understand how it might have looked.

Third of all I liked the philosophical/ethical debates brought up by The Kite Runner. For me the most interesting is the debate of whether or not Baba should have told Amir that Hassan was his illegitimate brother. When Amir visits Rahim Khan, he informs Amir that Hassan is his half brother (Baba’s son); therefore, Sohrab is Amir’s nephew. I understand why Baba hid the truth from everyone; he did not want to ruin the family reputation. On the other hand, he lied to his son and robbed Amir his right to a brother. In Afghanistan, especially Kabul the people are super judgmental (“your name is the only thing you have forever”) this is why Baba wanted to hide the fact that Hassan was in fact his son and not Ali’s son. The Kite Runner is filled with philosophical/ethical debates like this. Never the less, it is philosophical/ethical debates like this that got me most interested, while reading The Kite Runner.

Fourth of all I liked how the novel was realistic. To write a realistic story about the Middle East (especially Afghanistan), you cannot write a sugarcoated story. Hosseini did not sugar coat his story to give it a happy ending or avoid death. Unlike most stories, The Kite Runner stays true to the realistic plot line of the real world. The most significant realistic segment of the plot line (to me) was the end. Unlike many stories where the characters walk into the sunset to live “happily ever after”, The Kite Runner ends in a bittersweet ending. Sohrab is depressed and Amir and Soraya did not get the child they wanted. Even though it is sad, I like the reality. I am happy that Hosseini chose to be realistic.

Finally my favorite thing about The Kite Runner was Hosseini’s writing method. He brings in the reader with an engaging story that had me chanting for the characters. He also writes in a straightforward and clear way that allows anyone to understand what he is saying. Unlike Kafka, I did not have to reread the same paragraph to understand what happened. Because of Hosseini’s “straight to the point” writing the method the story ended up being reasonably short for the amount of action(it was dense).

To continue my earlier analogy and compare The Kite Runner to a liquid, I would have to say that it is like mercury. Mercury is a dense but viscous poisonous fluid that can inform us about the environment. The Kite Runner is dense with story and action, while still being easy to read (viscous). It also has a realistic and powerful (poisonous) story line that describes (informs) the life of a child growing up in Afghanistan. In the end I would tell anyone to read The Kite Runner because I loved it!