The Kite Runner Chases Important Topics and a Great Story

Nick Perez

The Kite Runner  

Books are very rare to tackle challenging topics, but when they do, it can be a mixed bag of results. Some come off as preachy, and some don't include enough of the topic to make it a real statement, and it often gets lost in the storyline. However, in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, we find a happy medium, balancing the difficult topics and a great and compelling storyline. The story follows Amir, a small boy living in Afghanistan with his father, his servant and the servant's son Hassan, who is Amir's best friend. When a tragic incident occurs involving Hassan, Amir's whole life is changed, and The Kite Runner revolves around how that incident will affect the rest of Amir's life. The challenging topics range from the setting, which is the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, a very dark time in the countries history, to how one event can change the rest of someone's life, and people whose lives are around them. By encompassing these difficult topics with compelling characters, a great storyline, and an interesting setting, The Kite Runner captures your attention, and doesn't let it go until the last sentence. 

In my opinion, The Kite Runner is a very good novel, and one that is definetly worth a read. One of the main reasons is the compelling characters that are encompassed in the novel. Amir, the main character of the story has a very interesting backstory, with his fall from being very rich in Kabul to being a middle class citizen in the United States, as well as the relationship between him and Hassan, and how it is strained by the traumatic experience that Hassan experiences which affects their relationship in many ways. Another interesting character is Amir's father, and how his relationship with his son grows and changes throughout Amir's life. Many things change this relationship and it becomes strained as Amir grows and his intrests and what he finds important in his life. The character of Amir's father and the relationship between him and Amir provide interesting and compelling. Another thing that makes this story so interesting and great in my opinion is that is the setting (location and time) of the story. The setting of the story is during the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan,  a truly dark time in Afghanistan's history, and a period that is seldom talked about in stories, particularly ones that achieve critical acclaim and mainstream success. The setting provides this novel with an even more reason to care about the characters, as they are seperated from their families and forced through strenuous situations that no one should ever go through. This invests you in the characters, thus investing you in the book. Finally, the biggest reason I think this book is great is the storyline. It explores themes of friendship, family, actions and consequences, as well as changing to new environments and the struggle that can create, especially involving immigration. These themes with great characters, believable actions and motivations for these actions, and a great setting, creates a great storyline, and a great novel. I would recommend this book to nearly anyone who just enjoys reading, and is interested in a great story that you won't forget anytime soon.