The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

ISBN: 978-1-573-22245-7
Riverhead Books, NY 2003
324 pages

Plot Summary

Amir and Hassan are best friends as boys in Kabul; they are both motherless and being raised in the same household, but Amir is a Pashtun (a ruling class) and his father is a wealthy and influential man while Hassan and his father are their Hazzara servants. However, Hassan is the stronger of the two boys both physically and morally. In fact, Hassan remains loyal to Amir even when Amir stood by while Hassan was brutally hurt. When Amir and his father flee Afghanistan for the US, Hassan remains behind. Years later, Amir is given the chance to right some of his wrongs by helping Hassan's son escape from the Taliban.

Critical Evaluation

A powerful but also deeply disturbing book - it explores issues of friendship, love, war, cruelty, but probably most importantly, loyalty and betrayal. Not for the faint of heart.

Reader's Annotation

Can Amir ever really right the wrongs of his childhood by returning to Afghanistan and rescuing Hassan's son?

Author Info

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul to a diplomat father and a school teacher mother. The family relocated to Paris for his father's job but then were unable to return to Afghanistan because of the communist coup. They were granted asylum in the US and Khaled graduated from UCSD's College of Medicine and practiced as an internist. Kite Runner was his first book and it was an international bestseller published in 48 countries. In 2006 Khaled was named a goodwill envoy to the United Nations Refugee Agency. His follow-up book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, was also a bestseller. He lives in Northern California.

Genre

Adult cross-over novel

Curriculum Ties

This book is on high school and college reading lists

Booktalking Ideas

1. Why did Amir's father seem to prefer Hassan, the servant's son?

2. What happened to Amir's proud father when they moved to America?

Reading/ Interest Level

High school - Adult but not appropriate for under 15 (in fact, I had a hard time dealing with parts of this book but it is a required reading book at the high school where I work).

Challenge Issues and Defense

violence, child rape, war

Adult novel; graphic but not gratuitous depictions of brutality

Library's collection development policy

Award-winning novel; rave reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal

Why I Included This Book

I was actually surprised to see this book on our high school library's shelves -however, it is an excellent book to use to discuss the horrors of war and unbinding loyalty.