The Kite Runner

[mks_dropcap style=”letter” size=”52″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#7c862a”]THE[/mks_dropcap] Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

If anyone has ever been able to create a mèlange of emotions like brotherhood, love, compassion and loyalty in the most heart-wrenching way, it’s the very gifted American-Afghan writer, Khaled Hosseini. Rare are the times when one can imagine a friendship tale ejecting such pathos. The Kite Runner, with its subtle poignancy, is plain stupendous. The book, moreover, does not hold back from driving the propagandists insane and speak ill against the author as Khalid Hosseini has bluntly exposed the truth which remains behind the curtain most of the times. Let’s get into the details of the book.

It is the author’s first (and probably the finest) novel. It revolves around the tragic and vulnerable lives of two boys Amir and his ‘acquaintance’ (as he wishes to call him) Hassan. It is set against the backdrop of war-torn Afghanistan. Hassan is the kite runner for Amir. The two boys spend all day flying kite oblivious to the atrocities of war that would ensue with the Taliban intervention which gains central stage in the story’s movement.

The artistic infusion of reality into the fiction makes it a treat for the readers, more than ever! Out of the multitude of heartrending lines from the novel, these act as perfect images of The Kite Runner for me:

“And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words.
Mine was Baba.
His was Amir. My name.”

Looking back on it now, I think the foundation for what happened in the winter of 1975 and all that followed was already laid in those first words”.

It is only when you read the novel, that you realize what treasure you had been missing out on, all this while. I might say to this novel, what Hassan said to Amir, “for you, a thousand times over”. Yes ! It is ‘that’ kind of novel. You can’t resist but read it over and over again and then, no wonder if you happen to memorize many of its beautiful lines, considering how moving they are.

Another element that adds to the aesthetics of The Kite Runner is its discrete characters, the unguarded character of Hassan being my favourite, crafted so beautifully that it almost seems like a piece of art. Others too are too well defined to be forgotten easily.

For it’s no child’s play to move a mass of people to rethink of its notions of reality and suffering, The Kite Runner, truly, is a masterpiece. Written with the intention to be “read, felt and re-read”, the novel fulfills its purpose.

TKR is successful in getting every bit of absorption and engrossment that it deserves. Novels like this one are written once in a blue moon and that one happens to get their hands on it, I call it their good luck.

By: Prakriti Gupta