The novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini presents an enriching story about love, guilt, and redemption. Hosseini uses real, relatable characters by recognizing and honoring the flaw in human nature. He takes you on an eye-opening journey of self-discovery and teaches us that good can always bloom from bad.
In the first part of the book there is a kite tournament, which the characters Amir and Hassan attend. In the competition many brilliantly colored kites with razor sharp string, fly magnificently through the air while trying to cut each other out of the sky. When a kite is cut, it is the job of the kite runner to retrieve it and claim it as their prize. Hassan is Amir's kite runner, but instead of claiming it as his own he runs the kite for Amir. Throughout the book, Amir is trying to find the kite runner in himself. He is yearning for the freedom and righteousness that he saw in Hassan's soul.
First paperback edition book cover
Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini with Bahram and...
Khaled Hosseini at the White House in 2007, with B...But he is unable to do that until he can redeem his past.
The road to redemption is a long and uncomfortable one, but like the kite tournament it is also very beautiful. Amir's journey into the heart of Afghanistan isn't by any means easy. He is faced with violence, lies, death, and most importantly his past. But in the midst of this chaos he is able to experience freedom, freedom from his guilt, from his suffering, from his old self. At one point, his old enemy Assef is beating him into a pulp when some thing unexpected happens, "I don't know at one point I started laughing, but I did. It hurt to laugh, hurt my jaws, my ribs, my throat. But I was laughing and laughing. And the harder I laughed, the harder he kicked...