Review: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

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The Kite Runner is the story of two boys growing up together in Afghanistan. Amir is the son of a rich businessman, whereas Hassan is the son of their Hazara servant (an ethnic minority and considered to be lower on the social scale). Amir has always felt that his father is disappointed in him and he desperately wants to please him by winning the local kite fighting tournament (a sport where competitors fly kites with strings coated in cut glass and attempt to cut down their rivals’ kites in order to have the last kite still flying). Hassan is the ‘kite runner’ of the book’s title. When Amir wins the tournament, Hassan chases the fallen kite so Amir can present it to his father. When Hassan is ambushed by a gang of bullies he refuses to give them the kite, knowing how much it means to his friend, and as a consequence is assaulted by the gang leader. Amir witnesses this but is too afraid to intervene.

Several years later during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Amir and his father flee to America to start a new life – but Amir is unable to escape from the shame and guilt that have haunted him ever since the day of the kite fighting tournament when he stood by and watched Hassan being raped.

There were times when I almost forgot this was fiction, as the book had the feel of an autobiography, particularly in the early chapters which were quite vivid and realistic. Amir, as the narrator of the book, is not a very likeable character. As a child he is weak and cowardly and betrays a loyal friend who would do anything for him. As an adult I still found him difficult to like, though I could sympathise with him and wanted to see him redeem himself.

One of the things I liked about this book was learning more about Afghanistan from the point of view of a child growing up in a wealthy district of Kabul. Amir and his father had a comfortable, privileged lifestyle and the Kabul described in the early chapters of the book is certainly not the way we picture Kabul today. The Kite Runner shows how everything changed with the Soviet invasion and then the Taliban regime – and changed so much that Amir, returning to Afghanistan later in the book, remarked that he felt like a tourist in his own country. One horrifying scene describes the Taliban stoning two people to death in front of a crowded stadium during a soccer match.

The writing style used throughout this book is very simplistic with lots of short or incomplete sentences. Although it didn’t spoil the story for me, I did find it distracting. Another problem I had was that halfway through the book the plot became too predictable and I could guess how the story was going to end. Despite those few negative points, The Kite Runner is an emotional, thought-provoking story with some heartbreaking scenes and some horrific ones. Although I have read some very mixed reviews of this book (people seem to either love it or hate it) in my opinion it’s definitely well worth reading.

Recommended

Genre: General Fiction/Pages: 324/Publisher: Bloomsbury/Year: 2004/Source: Library book

Booking Through Thursday: But What About Me?

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Here’s this week’s question from Booking Through Thursday.

What’s your favorite part of Booking Through Thursday? Why do you participate (or not)?

Booking Through Thursday was the first weekly meme I discovered when I first started my blog in October and I have tried to participate as often as possible. The questions are always thought-provoking and make me think about the books I’m reading and my reading habits etc. It also gives me something interesting to write about on a Thursday!

I enjoy reading other people’s answers, even if I don’t have time to comment on them all. It’s a good way to find great blogs that I might not have found otherwise.

What’s in a Name? 3 Challenge

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I signed up for another challenge today. I’m trying not to sign up for too many as 2010 will be my first full year of challenges, but this one sounded fun!This challenge is hosted by Beth and is called What’s In A Name? 3. Here are the rules as posted on the challenge blog.

Between January 1 and December 31, 2010, read one book in each of the following categories:

  1. A book with a food in the title: Clockwork Orange, Grapes of Wrath, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
  2. A book with a body of water in the title: A River Runs through It, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, The Lake House
  3. A book with a title (queen, president) in the title: The Murder of King Tut, The Count of Monte Cristo, Lady Susan
  4. A book with a plant in the title: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Wind in the Willows, The Name of the Rose
  5. A book with a place name (city, country) in the title: Out of Africa; London; Between, Georgia
  6. A book with a music term in the title: Song of Solomon, Ragtime, The Piano Teacher

The book titles are just suggestions, you can read whatever book you want to fit the category.

Other Things to Know

  • Books may be any form (audio, print, e-book).
  • Books may overlap other challenges.
  • Books may not overlap categories; you need a different book for each category.
  • Creativity for matching the categories is allowed.
  • You do not have to make a list of books before hand.
  • You do not have to read through the categories in any particular order.
  • There will be a single prize at the end of the challenge. Readers who complete the challenge and write up a wrap-up post (or wrap-up comment) are eligible. I’ll figure out a way to make it international.

Books read for this challenge (updated January 9 2010)

1. [Book with a Title in the title] The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
2.

Review: Molly’s Millions by Victoria Connelly

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What would you do if you won £4.2m on the lottery? Would you tell your Scrooge-like family and risk them taking the money away from you…or would you try to keep it a secret and have some fun? That’s the decision faced by struggling florist Molly Bailey – and it doesn’t take her long to make up her mind!

Knowing she can’t hide her win from the Bailey family forever, Molly decides to dispose of it as quickly as possible. With only her dog for company, she sets off on a journey around Britain, distributing money to those in need.Victoria Connelly writes with a lot of warmth and humour, making this a lovely, inspiring story with characters that the reader can really identify with and care about.

It would be impossible not to like Molly Bailey, as she’s such a generous, kind-hearted person. She truly doesn’t seem to realise how unusual it is for someone to behave so selflessly and can’t understand why her actions are making her a media phenomenon. I also liked Tom, despite the trouble he was causing for Molly, and I loved Flora, his daughter. I was torn between cheering Molly on, and wanting Tom to catch her!This isn’t the kind of book I would usually choose to read but Molly’s Millions, with its pretty pink cover, caught my attention. It was a light, enjoyable, fun read and I’m glad I decided to give it a chance!

Journalist Tom Mackenzie is looking for a big story to save his career. Accompanied by his ten year-old daughter, Flora, Tom chases Molly up and down the country, determined to discover the identity of this modern-day Robin Hood. Molly must use her wits if she is to avoid being caught by Tom and the Bailey men and continue spreading goodwill to the nation.

Recommended

Genre: Chick Lit/Pages: 352/Publisher: Allison & Busby/Year: 2009/Source: Library book

New Book Arrivals – 28th November 2009

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I won a £10 Amazon voucher with an online survey panel that I belong to, so of course I decided to spend it on some books. The books I chose were Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte and The Haunted Hotel and Other Stories by Wilkie Collins. I want to read the Jung Chang and Anne Bronte books for various challenges I’m participating in (in particular Women Unbound and All About The Brontes) and they’ve been on my wishlist for years anyway. I wanted The Haunted Hotel because I love Wilkie Collins and am trying to read as many of his books as possible.

The books are now on my TBR list for 2010.

Review: The Moonlit Cage by Linda Holeman

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“I have always been told I was wicked…”

This is the first book I’ve read by Linda Holeman and it was good enough to make me want to read more of her work.
I love books that help me to learn about other times and other places: in The Moonlit Cage, Holeman introduces us to life in 19th century Afghanistan. Not being an expert in Afghan history or culture, I have no idea how accurate her descriptions are, but the book seems very well-researched to me. A glossary of unfamiliar Dari and Pashto words is included at the back of the book, but I didn’t feel the need to refer to this very often as most of the words were explained as we encountered them in the text.
 
 The story is narrated by Darya, a young Afghan girl. All her life Darya has refused to conform to others’ expectations and secretly dreams of one day finding freedom. When her father’s second wife, Sulima, puts a curse on her, Darya is forced to leave her village and is sold into marriage with the son of a nomadic chief. However, when her husband learns about the curse and threatens to kill her, she runs away again. As she escapes through the Hindu Kush mountains, she meets David Ingram and begins a journey which takes her first to India and then to London.
 

I really enjoyed this book and found it difficult to put down. The first two thirds, which took place in Afghanistan and India, were fascinating, though I didn’t like the way the storyline developed after Darya’s arrival in England. The only other problem I had with the book was that while Darya was an interesting, likeable character, I found David Ingram, as the hero of the story, quite boring and two-dimensional.I admired the way Darya’s strength and courage helped her to survive all kinds of pain and abuse.

After reading the first couple of chapters I decided that this book would count towards the Women Unbound reading challenge. Throughout the entire story, Darya constantly questions why she has to behave in a certain way just because she’s a woman and challenges the belief that daughters are worthless and only sons are of value.
 
I knew nothing about this book until I found it in the library (on the “H” shelf next to Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner which coincidentally is also set in Afghanistan) so I was surprised by how good it was. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys long historical fiction novels…but you can prepare to be saddened and shocked by Darya’s story.
 
Recommended
Genre: Historical Fiction/Pages: 544/Publisher: Headline Review/Year: 2006/Source: Library book