The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner

Author	Khaled Hosseini
Cover artist	Jacket design and imaging: Honi Werner
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Riverhead Books
Publication date	May 29, 2003
Media type	Print (hardcover & paperback), audio CD, audio cassette, and audio download
Pages	324 pp (first edition, hardcover)
ISBN	ISBN 1-57322-245-3 (first edition, hardcover)

This article is about the novel. For the film, see The Kite Runner (film).

The Kite Runner is the first novel by Afghan American author Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003, it is the first novel published in English by an author from Afghanistan.^[1]

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Plot 3 Characters 3.1 Story 4 Reception 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Introduction

The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a well-to-do Pashtun boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who is haunted by the guilt of betraying his childhood friend Hassan, the son of his father's Hazara servant. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the Taliban regime.

Plot

This is the story of Amir's friendship with Hassan and how he atones for sins he had committed in his childhood.

Characters

• Amir — protagonist of the novel, said to be born in 1963, in Kabul, who begins as a well-to-do boy in monarchical Afghanistan and later migrates to America following the downfall of the monarchy. Amir is Hassan's half brother; however, Amir doesn't know of their relationship until much later in his life, and Hassan never knows of the relationship.
• Hassan — a childhood friend of Amir, although Amir never explicitly admitted to this. Hassan is first thought to be the son of Ali (Baba's servant and inexplicit childhood friend) and Sanaubar; later in the story, Hassan was revealed to be the illegitimate son of Baba and Sanaubar. Hassan died without ever knowing about this fact.
• Assef — a teenage rapist from Amir's neighborhood in Kabul, antagonist, brutally sodomizes Hassan. Assef is the son of a German mother and Afghan father; as an adult Assef is a member of the Taliban. He has sympathies for Hitler and a hatred of Hazaras, giving a book about his "idol" to Amir at Amir's thirteenth birthday. Many years later, he becomes a Talib-executioner and pedophile. Sohrab severely damages one of his eyes during his fight with Amir.
• Baba — Amir's father. He is said to be born in the year 1933 (when the Afghan king begins his 40-year reign). He is described as a big, strong, healthy looking man with wild brown hair and beard. Baba is depicted to be of about 1.96 meter (6'5") in height. He is a bit of a party-maker, and known for his strength. (He is said to have fought with a black bear and won the fight, in his younger years). During the book, Baba seems to be a bit disappointed in his son Amir, who he wishes to be as much as a man as he is (but his son only reads books and lets others fight off bullies for him). After leaving Afghanistan for America, he ages quickly and dies young, at fifty-three, in 1986, of cancer. He lives long enough, though, to see his son Amir marry a young Afghan woman called Soraya. Many people attend his funeral.
• Ali — Baba's servant and inexplicit childhood friend. He was thought initially to be the father of Hassan. He was struck with polio which rendered his right leg useless.
• Rahim Khan — Baba's business partner and best friend in Afghanistan, later he was the one who tells Amir about Hassan's actual father. Amir liked him as a child, and Rahim Khan is also the one who invited Amir back to Afghanistan to pick up Sohrab. Later in the story, Rahim Khan goes off alone leaving a letter to Amir telling him not to find him. He dies peacefully knowing he has successfully made Amir the man Baba wanted him to be.
• Soraya — an Afghan woman living in Fremont, California. She marries Amir. Soraya wants to become a teacher. Before marrying Amir, she ran away with an Afghan boyfriend in Virginia, which according to Afghan tradition made her unsuitable for marriage, but Amir loved and married her anyway.
• Sohrab — son of Hassan, traumatized and sexually abused by the Taliban; Rahim Khan contacts Amir later in life in an attempt to get him to come back to Afghanistan to find Sohrab
• Sanaubar — Ali's promiscuous wife who gives birth to Hassan as a result of an affair with Baba. She returns many years later and bonds with Sohrab.
• Farid — bitter driver who is initially abrasive toward Amir but later befriends him. Farid's two daughters were killed by a land mine years back. Farid is Amir's means of transport, information, and knowledge of current Afghanistan when he returns.

Story

The story is narrated mainly by Amir, except one chapter late in the novel, which is narrated by Rahim Khan. Amir is one of the novel’s main characters, an Afghan man living in San Francisco, California recounting his childhood in Kabul in the 1970s. He begins his story in Afghanistan, before the Soviet invasion. He and his Hazara servant Hassan (the son of his father's servant Ali) spend many hours per day together. One of the most cherished times spent together was when Amir would read stories to Hassan, under a pomegranate tree. Amir had a love for literature, a trait similar to his mother, who died while giving birth to him. However, this troubles his father ("Bābā," Persian for father), who tries to make Amir more like himself, active and courageous. Baba puts Amir on a soccer team and tries to teach him to defend himself, but fails with every attempt. Nevertheless, Amir continues to pursue his love for literature and eventually ends up composing his own short stories. Sadly, Amir’s father has almost no interest in his stories, although his business partner and friend to Amir, Rahim Khan, is full of praise. One day Hassan and Amir come across Assef, a sociopathic bully known for his brass knuckles and his rancor towards Hazaras. He prepares to fight Amir and Hassan, but Hassan threatens to shoot out Assef’s left eye with his slingshot, saying they'll call him "one-eyed Assef." Before the daunted bully backs off he warns them that he will have his revenge. Assef's vow comes true during the day of Amir's favorite sport: "kite fighting". In this sport, while children fly their kites, they try to cut each other's. Hassan is the "kite runner", he runs to fetch landed kites; he has a gift to know where they will land before they are even cut. Amir wins the tournament, and finally Baba's praise, with his kite the last one flying, but when Hassan goes to run the last cut kite for him, a great trophy, he runs into Assef and two henchmen. Hassan refuses to give up Amir's kite, so Assef assaults and rapes him. Wondering why Hassan is taking so long, Amir searches for Hassan and hides when he hears Assef's voice. He witnesses what happens to Hassan but is too scared to help him. Afterwards, Hassan becomes emotionally downcast. Amir knows why but keeps it a secret, and things are never the same between the two. After bearing much guilt and hearing a story from Rahim Khan, Amir decides it would be best for Hassan to go away. Amir frames Hassan as a thief but Baba forgives him, even though he admits to committing the crime - and despite the fact that Baba believes that "there is no act more wretched than stealing". Hassan and his father Ali, to Baba's extreme sorrow, decide to leave. A short while later, the Russians invade Afghanistan; Amir and Baba escape to Peshawar, Pakistan and then to Fremont, California, where Amir and Baba, who lived in luxury in an expensive mansion in Afghanistan, settle in a humble apartment and Baba begins work at a gas station. Amir eventually takes classes at a local community college to develop his writing skills. Every Sunday, Baba and Amir make extra money selling used goods at a flea market in San Jose. There, Amir meets Soraya Taheri and her family and eventually marries her. The days are far from happy, however. Amir watches helplessly as Baba sickens and dies from lung cancer; shortly thereafter he and Soraya learn that they cannot have children. A year passes, Amir embarks on a successful career as a novelist, and sells his first novel. After fifteen years, Amir receives a call from Rahim Khan, who is dying from an illness, and he tells Amir "there is a way to be good again" so Amir flies to Pakistan to meet him. From Rahim Khan, Amir learns Ali has been killed by a land mine, Hassan and his wife have been killed by the Taliban, and that Hassan was actually his half-brother, being an illegitimate son of Baba. The true reason that Rahim Khan has called Amir to Pakistan, however, is to go to Kabul to rescue Hassan's son, Sohrab, from an orphanage and bring him to a trusted American couple living in Pakistan. Despite his anger at being deceived all his life, Amir agrees to go to Kabul to search for him. Amir returns to Taliban-controlled Kabul with Farid, who assumes he is another wealthy Afghan returning only to sell off land and property. While searching for Sohrab, who is supposed to be in an orphanage, Farid takes a liking to Amir, now realizing his noble cause. However, the orphanage director, having no choice but to sell off one child a month to gain money to feed the orphans, has sold Sohrab to a Taliban official and executioner. Amir sets an appointment with this man and meets him at his home. There he finds out that the Taliban official is actually Assef, whose epiphany (passing a kidney stone while being beaten in prison) led him to becoming Taliban. It is similar to Amir's, whose epiphany led him to be punished and to be good again. Assef agrees to relinquish Sohrab (who is made to dance dressed in women's clothes and has obviously been sexually assaulted) but only if Amir can beat him in a fight to the death, with Sohrab as the prize. Assef brutally beats Amir and grievously injures him, and would soon kill him, but Amir is saved when Sohrab uses his slingshot to shoot out Assef's left eye, leaving him a "one-eyed Assef." While recovering from his injuries, Amir learns from Farid that the American couple who will take care of Sohrab do not exist. Amir, realizing Rahim's lie, promises to adopt Sohrab and take him back to America and in doing so will "be good again". When difficulties arise in adopting Sohrab from Afghanistan, Amir tells Sohrab that he might have to stay in an orphanage for a while, and, Sohrab, frightened from his previous brutal treatment, attempts suicide. Luckily, Amir finds Sohrab in time to save his live, and takes him back to the United States. However, Sohrab is emotionally damaged and refuses to speak. This continues on for about a year until his frozen emotions are temporarily thawed when Amir reminisces about his father, Hassan, while kite flying. Amir shows off some of Hassan’s tricks, and Sohrab begins to interact with Amir again. In the end Sohrab only shows a lopsided smile, but Amir takes to it with all his heart as he runs the kite for Sohrab, saying, "For you, a thousand times over."

Reception

The novel was the third best seller for 2005 in the United States, according to Nielsen. BookScan.^[2] It was also voted 2006's reading group book of the year. Hosseini's first novel headed a list of 60 titles submitted by entrants to the Penguin/Orange Reading Group prize (UK).^[3]

See also

• The Kite Runner (film)
• A Thousand Splendid Suns (A second novel by Khaled Hosseini)
• Fighter kite

References

External links

• Official website of author Khaled Hosseini
• Baba's Orphanage - The actor who played Amir in the stage play of "Kite Runner" created this non-profit charity for children with harelips (cleft lips).