Book: The Kite Runner

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Book Size: 352

Book available: Amazon

In the formerly tranquil city of Kabul, Amir, a prosperous Pashtun child, and Hassan, a Hazara youngster who is the son of Ali, Amir’s father’s servant, spend their days kite fighting. The two youngsters were able to escape the terrible reality they were living in by flying kites. For Amir, Hassan is an effective “kite runner” because he can predict the kite’s landing spot without seeing it. Hassan’s mother, Sanaubar, simply left him and Ali, while Amir’s mother passed away during childbirth, leaving both sons motherless.

Amir’s father, a rich businessman whom he lovingly calls Baba, adores both boys. To Amir’s chagrin, he makes it a point to purchase Hassan identical items to those he owns. He even covers the cost of surgery to fix Hassan’s cleft lip. However, Baba frequently criticizes Amir, believing him to be weak and uncourageous. When he complains about Hassan, Baba even threatens to physically punish him. Rahim Khan, Baba’s best friend, is a kinder fatherly figure to Amir since he understands him and encourages his passion for writing, something Baba believes is only appropriate for women.

Amir asks why his father consumes alcohol, which is prohibited by Islam, in one of the few times he is seated on Baba’s lap instead of being thrown out as a bother. Baba informs him that the Mullahs are hypocrites and that stealing, which can take many different forms, is the sole true sin — having an affair being the worst.

Amir is frequently made fun of by Assef, an older boy with a sadistic appetite for violence, for hanging about with a Hazara, whose members, in his opinion, belong only in Hazarajat. Assef has a German mother and is just half Pashtun. He is ready to strike Amir with brass knuckles one day, but Hassan protects Amir by threatening to use his slingshot to pierce Assef’s eye. Assef retreats but vows to exact revenge eventually.

Amir eventually gains Baba’s admiration after winning the local kite-fighting competition one victorious day. Saying to Amir, “For you a thousand times over!” Hassan sprints for the last cut kite, a magnificent trophy. However, Hassan runs across Assef in an alleyway after discovering the kite. Assef humiliates Hassan by physically and sexually abusing him since he won’t give up the kite. Despite seeing the deed, Amir is too afraid to stop it.

He flees because he knows Baba will be less proud of him if he doesn’t bring the kite home. Despite his intense shame, Amir chooses to remain silent about the incident because he understands that his timidity is the only way he may win Baba’s love. Thereafter, Amir avoids contact with Hassan because he feels guilty about the incident. As a result, Hassan’s physical and mental health start to decline, but he still makes an effort to communicate with Amir.

Amir starts to think that life would be simpler without Hassan, so he hides his watch and some birthday cash beneath Hassan’s mattress in the hopes that Baba will force him to leave. When Baba confronts Hassan, Hassan makes up a confession. Baba forgives him despite his belief that “stealing is the most miserable act there is.” Hassan has told Ali what happened to him, so they depart despite Baba’s dismay. Amir no longer has to live with the constant reminder of his treachery and weakness, but he still bears their shadow.

Five years later, in 1979, the Soviet Union launched a military intervention in Afghanistan. After fleeing to Peshawar, Pakistan, Baba and Amir relocate to Fremont, California, where they live in a dilapidated apartment. Because of his low social standing in America, Baba starts working at a petrol station. Amir attends seminars at San Jose State University to hone his writing abilities after high school.

Each Sunday, Baba and Amir sell secondhand items at a San Jose flea market to supplement their income. Amir meets Soraya Taheri, a fellow refugee, and her family there. Even though Baba has been given a terminal cancer diagnosis, he is still able to do Amir one more favor: he asks Soraya’s father for permission to marry Amir. He accepts, and they get married. Baba passes away in peace shortly after. After settling into a lovely marriage, Amir and Soraya discover to their dismay that they are unable to conceive.

Amir starts a lucrative career writing novels. Rahim Khan calls Amir fifteen years after he gets married. Amir is invited to meet Rahim Khan in Peshawar, who is near death. In a mysterious manner, he informs Amir, “There is a way to be good again.”

Amir finds out that Hassan and Ali have both passed away from Rahim Khan. Hassan was killed (together with his wife Farzana) for refusing to let the Taliban take Baba and Amir’s Kabul home, while Ali was killed by a land mine. Rahim Khan further discloses that Ali was not Hassan’s biological father and was sterile. Amir’s half-brother, Hassan, was actually the son of Sanaubar and Baba. Rahim Khan concludes by telling Amir that he has summoned him to Pakistan in order to ask him to locate and save Sohrab, Hassan’s kid, from a Kabul orphanage.

With the help of Farid, an Afghan cab driver and Soviet War veteran, Amir looks for Sohrab. They visit a dilapidated orphanage where Rahim Khan claimed Sohrab might be, but they find out from the director that a Taliban official frequently visits, brings money, and typically takes a female with him. Sometimes he choose a guy, most notably Sohrab. Amir receives instructions from the director of the orphanage on where to locate the official, and Farid uses his “personal business” to get an appointment at his house.

The Taliban chief, who identifies himself as Assef, meets Amir. As a dancing boy, Sohrab is being held at Assef’s mansion. If Amir can make it out of the room alive, Assef agrees to give him up. After Assef severely assaults Amir with his brass knuckles, fracturing multiple bones and severing his lip, Sohrab saves Amir and fulfills Hassan’s long-standing threat by using a slingshot to shoot a brass ball into Assef’s left eye. Amir faints and awakens at a hospital after Sohrab helps him leave the residence.

Amir informs Sohrab that he intends to adopt him and bring him back to America. But American officials want proof that Sohrab is an orphan. When Amir informs Sohrab that they may have to return to an orphanage for a short time due to an issue with the adoption procedure, Sohrab cuts his wrists in an attempt to end his life because he is afraid of going back to an orphanage.

Eventually, with Soraya’s assistance, Amir is able to bring him back to the United States. Following his adoption, Sohrab won’t talk to Amir or Soraya until one day Amir remembers Hassan and kites and demonstrates some of Hassan’s antics. “For you, a thousand times over” Like Hassan did many years ago, Amir runs the kite for Sohrab after helping him win his first kite fight. Sohrab just gives him a lopsided smile.