Politics of life, love and betrayal

It’s been on my reading list for a while and I finally managed to finish it!

The Kite Runner is about two boys Amir and Hassan who grow up in Afghanistan. While Amir is the son of a businessman, Hassan’s father is a servant to Amir’s father. Yet, they forge a friendship when they are really young (they are also nursed by the same woman). Inspite of their closeness, Amir finds it difficult to acknowledge Hassan as a friend because of their class differences. Once particular incident seals their fate and Amir can never reconcile to what constitutes a rather cowardly act.

Soon after the families are torn apart and Amir lands up in America as an immigrant. By a turn of fate, after a 20 year absence, he has to travel back to Afghanistan and relives his childhood and tries to atone for the way he treated Hassan. In his journey, he uncovers another secret that leaves him even more shameful.

Khaled Hosseini’s first novel is a page-turner and I managed to get through it quite quickly. It’s provocative, interesting and the well-fleshed out characters hold you by the scruff and pull you into the pages.

I enjoyed the book immensely. There are not so many descriptive novels based on life in Afghanistan and Hosseini paints a fascinating picture of life in the country before and after Talibisation, Russian occupation and the Mujaheddin. War, politics, betrayal, friendship, relationships and the class system in Afghanistan forms the backdrop and keep your occupied.

Khaled Hosseini now works as a doctor and received political asylum in 1980.

A must read, folks!