THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Hosseini

[kampanaryo_spy]

Let’s hear it from the Net:

"The Kite Runner" is Khaled Hosseini’s first novel and the number three best seller for 2005 in the United States, staying on the list for over two years. It has been published in 42 different languages and adapted into a film of the same name with a release date in November 2007.

"The Kite Runner" is an epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, and of the price of loyalty. Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present, "The Kite Runner" is the unforgettable, beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan nonetheless grow up in different worlds: Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy man, while Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara, member of a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When the Soviets invade and Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him.

"The Kite Runner" describes the rich culture and beauty of a land in the process of being destroyed. But with the devastation, Khaled Hosseini also gives us hope: through the novel's faith in the power of reading and storytelling, and in the possibilities he shows for redemption.”


Since last year, my writer-friends in Manila have been blogging about how "The Kite Runner" (TKR) made them cry. Then two weeks ago, Maritess Patrimonio-Luna asked me if I had read TKR because her batchmate, who’s now in Canada and who shall remain unnamed, was sending her the book.

I read TKR over the weekend, and until now---as I write this---my eyes are still red and sore from all that crying. Okay, I’m exaggerating.

Tetes gave me the book Saturday night and I didn’t flip the pages until Sunday morning when I woke up. I would have finished the book in one go but I had to hear mass. At the church I couldn’t concentrate; I wanted to go home and finish the book.

By lunch time, I was crying my eyes out. And I’m not exaggerating this time. In fact I cried so many pearls, that if strung, could fly a kite high enough to reach the sky. The last one---the use of pearls---you have to read the novel to understand!

I spent the entire Sunday afternoon reading and crying. My hands couldn’t keep pace with the speed by which my eyes snapped the words. I turned the pages forth, then back to reread and savor the beautiful words that the author kept throwing at me, page after beautiful page.

I covet the author’s gift for description. He showed me the devastation of war through telling images that it felt as though I was really in Kabul, seeing death and destruction. And with a turn of phrases as poignant as “the war had made fathers a rare commodity in Afghanistan” and “there are many children in Afghanistan but few childhood,” there was no relief but to cry. But there was this description that the author attributed to Amir as he drove around Kabul after 25 years: “we drove past the burned village, and the dogs didn’t move.”

That said it all to me!

The author is also a master of foreshadowing. And so when Sohrab hit Assef's left eye with a metal ball using a slingshot, I had no doubt about Sohrab blinding the man who first sodomized his father when he was his age and then himself, after Assef took him from the orphanage to be his sex-slave.

I like the way the author used kite fighting and kite running (to know how these are done, you have to read the book) as theme. The social segration brought by a caste system in Afghanistan was eloquently displayed by the author through this thematic image. Amir, the master, was a kite fighter (was up there) and Hassan, the kite runner (was down there). But one doesn't miss the sense of irony because it was actually Hassan who did all the fighting, and Amir, all the running.

Early in Amir and Hassan's friendship, they often visited a pomegranate tree where they spent hours reading and playing. One summer day, using a kitchen knife, Amir carved on the tree these words: “Amir and Hassan, the Sultans of Kabul.” Amir then told Hassan that those words made it formal, that the tree was theirs.

In a letter to Amir later in the story, Hassan mentioned that "the tree hasn't borne fruit in years." When Amir returned to Kabul, he went to the pomegranate tree to look for the words he had carved 25 years ago. They were still etched on a tree that now had gone barren, with its bark chipping. For one last time, Amir sat there, desolate and alone, for even the wind was silent. The loneliness was so gut wrenching I had to run for water.

And the scene when Amir set-up Hassan of stealing his watch, and Amir’s father, Baba, crying and pleading for Hassan and his father to stay, I simply had to let go or I'd burst!

It is of particular note that the author framed his story with kite flying. At the beginning of the story, it represented Amir’s descent to his own personal hell, and at the the end, his redemption.

I like the way Amir said at novel's end, when Sohrab, Hassan's son whom he had adopted, faintly smiled after almost a year of clamming up on him and his wife: "I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.”

Beautiful!

I’m a sucker for tales of friendship that go from sweet, to sour, then back to sweet. "The Kite Runner" is one such book. Only that in this book, the friendship didn't have the chance to get sweet again. Oppps!

(I remember going to Tetes's house at 10:00 PM Sunday because I was hesitant to continue reading the book as I didn't want to know if Hassan died before Amir could ask for forgiveness and atone for his sins! Ha-ha!)

I encourage you to read the book. It’s cathartic. And when you’re done, please let us know if you want to join our clique: The Kite Runner’s Crying Club of Tago! We’ll be glad to have you, A THOUSAND TIMES OVER! That phrase, too, you have to read the book to understand and cry.


(Note: Khaled Hosseini’s second novel, “A Thousand Splendid Suns “ is a national bestseller and touted to be even better than "The Kite Runner." It has also been optioned to Columbia Pictures.)

[Alibangbang]

K-Spy,

Thank you. Great review, brilliantly written… I’m curious about the pearls. South Sea? Or Mikimoto?

Have just started “The Sanctuary” by Raymond Khoury. Abandon that. Now, I have to brave the rain, run to Barnes and Noble and buy myself a copy of TKR. I don’t know why I keep passing TKR at Costco's book section before. Think it was the tear factor. It intimidated me.

K-Spy, sold...will gladly read the book.

It is half past 12 now and still dreary and raining outside. Easy solution, I’ll order TKR from Amazon instead. This way, I won’t get wet and should be in our mail box within 2 days.

I have a love hate relation with books relating heavy on “friendship, love, loyalty then betrayal” and as K-Spy said, “Only that in this book, the friendship didn't have the one singular chance of getting sweet again. Oppps!” (SPOILER!!! but no harm done… I'll romanticize the pomegranate tree instead with me up there drinking its juice with antioxidant properties).

K-Spy it's so true. When reading, certain emotions run so deep into the very core.

Since we’re on this kind of books, if you guys are interested may I suggest,

“Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail” by Malika Oufkir
“Between Two Worlds Escape from Tyranny: Growing up in the shadow of Saddam” by Zainab Salbi . (I’ve learned a lot from these books).
Then there is “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan A Novel” of friendship by Lisa See

Happy reading….

[kampanaryo_spy]

abb,

i say read it. it's devastating but in a beautiful kind of way. Its poignancy is matched only by the ending of Jeffrey Archer's "Kane and Abel."

I wished I had Hassan for a friend. But even if Amir squandered the friendship, I still felt for him when he said: I KNOW ALL ABOUT REGRET!

tell me your thoughts of the book. PLEASE. and whether you're willing to become a member of the Crying Club.

John Bengan, a Dumaguete co-fellow who now teaches Creative Writing in UP-Mindanao, says that “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan A Novel” is one great read.

[Alibangbang]

K-Spy,

You got it.

Please tell me how did you get pass Assef's atrocity???? Come to think of it, it was not the tear factor but Assef that intimidated me.

Thanks....can't wait to get the book. While i was at it, ordered "A thousand Splendid Suns" as well. This I'd like to pass on to you K-Spy.

[kampanaryo_spy]

this is the actual book that we read. this was the scene when amir witnessed the sodomy, ran home, and kept the secret to himself. if only the artist was faithful to the clothes amir wore that fateful day. ha-ha me and my OCD!

abb, do you really wanna know? assef existed in the book's periphery, but his one atrocious act of sodomy on hassan drove a wedge between amir and hassan's friendship. and most importantly, it served as the hook from which amir's regrets hung.

i hated assef so much that by the time amir and assef confronted each other towards the book's end in sohrab's presence, i heard myself yelling at sohrab to release the cup of his slingshot and give assef his comeuppance! and you know what? sohrab did!

gly’s reading the book now. and knowing her to be another pusong mamon, bet she had cried buckets too. lita manzano (awel’s wife) is next in line.

i wonder if there are other bookworms here. the book is too precious not to be shared.

Thanks....can't wait to get the book. While i was at it, ordered "A thousand Splendid Suns" as well. This I'd like to pass on to you K-Spy.

ay, ay abb, ag sa lang kita maka tiyaho nan durian nan ini na mga gilaong. know what? mimi once texted me to ask if "Balzac and Little Chinese Seamstress" was good because she wanted to give it to her bibliophile friend who was then celebrating her bday. Then mimi texted me later that the book was only available on line.

this morning i texted mimi, asking what book she gave her friend. tapos kon wara pa, i recommended to her TKR. mimi texted back, saying she gave her instead "A Thousand Splendid Suns."

some friends have all the luck.

[Alibangbang]

K-Spy,

I can see that the book pictured above has been around . Bent nan cover Madayaw kay inka puslan gayod.

Wait because I haven't read it in its entirety yet, but wasn't the hideous "act" done to Hassan when he went to retrieve the last kite that Amir slice which was his prize trophy for winning the kite fight?

When thumbing through the book at Costco, there was some kind of epiphany. Somewhere I remember was a scene about someone passing a kidney stone while being beaten in prison. Who was that? I thought it was rather funny than pathetic. Was that in this book or I am getting confuse with another book?

OO kay bisan ngadi special order online dakan isab an "Balzac".
An "snow flower" glad that your co-fellow liked it. Paga pasa da isab yadto sa ako nan una nan officemate. Hit home gayod cried buckets kay probensia san setting.

Sus bagan ma una ko pag basa an "A Thousand..." para maipasa ko isab dayon sa imo.

[kampanaryo_spy]

abb,

bagan gayud paga "puwaw" mo ako anhi. ikaw sa lang.

kite flying, fighting, and running is afghanistan's national past time. big event baya ini sa ila. inlang-an ko lagi si maritess na mag organize kamin kite fighting and running sa tago.

sa afghanistan, mag fight an over a hundred kites. this requires skill, and amir and hassan had this skill.

amir was an only child and baba, his father, was frustrated with him because he, unlike baba, didn't like soccer and instead wanted to be a writer. in short, di kadayaw haw ideal an ila relationship (remember this was a tale about father and son too!), which made the story even "bittersweeter" when amir and baba fled to california and rediscovered themselves. for tension, amir felt that baba saw himself in hassan who would be revealed later to be baba's................?!!@##$%%^%.

get this: every year baba didn't forget hassan's bday. one year baba, as his present to hassan, hired a surgeon to do lip surgery on hassan.

back to kite fighting. kite running is when somebody runs for the fallen kite and makes it his prize. the greatest kite runner is the one who gets the last fallen kite (kay an champion di sa ma dabas, di ba?). as kite runner, nobody beat hassan. abb, he didn't even have to look up, he just ran around kabul, listening to the wind and watching for shadows. but where hassan stopped, it was the exact same place that the kite would fall. amir described this in one of the pages of the book that---shhhhh--- i had underlined! (daan ako nan tag-iya!)

you're correct. that day, amir wanted to win the kite fighting because he felt that was the only way he could win the respect of baba. and indeed, he won. but to make the victory complete, hassan had to run for the kite that amir had just defeated. unknown to amir, assef and his friends were also running for the same kite. it was hassan, of course, who got the kite but then assef et al chased and cornered him in a cul-de-sac.

amir asked around to look for hassan. and that was how he witnessed the sodomy being foisted on his one true friend.

i wanted amir to shout for help, to pick up the metal rod and whack assef in the head. but true to his nature of being a coward, someone that couldn't stand for something he believed in, he turned away, an act he would regret til the end of his life.

the epiphany at the prison cell was assef's. he realized he wanted to play hitler to amir's jew.

there.

no, just read TKR first. i can wait for the other book. nothing urgent, you know.

[manday]

i wonder if there are other bookworms here. the book is too precious not to be shared.[/color]

K_spy count Analyn on your bookworm-list. She is another voracious reader.Slept over once in their Nova home - her room is like a mini library. I was enthralled by her reading habit, she barely sleeps.

I wish Ann could join here as an added member of your cerebral and bookworms members, so to speak. Posting and posing intellectual readings and exchange of previews and reviews of your favored books. The more the merrier, more inputs,more knowledge gain. I am amused and facinated with your sharings, though I am not a bookworm, I am learning from you guys.

This is my first post using the quote botton. Tenx. I guess I made it.

[sughac]

i wonder if there are other bookworms here. the book is too precious not to be shared.[/color]

K_spy count Analyn on your bookworm-list. She is another voracious reader.Slept over once in their Nova home - her room is like a mini library. I was enthralled by her reading habit, she barely sleeps.

I wish Ann could join here as an added member of your cerebral and bookworms members, so to speak. Posting and posing intellectual readings and exchange of previews and reviews of your favored books. The more the merrier, more inputs,more knowledge gain. I am amused and facinated with your sharings, though I am not a bookworm, I am learning from you guys.

This is my first post using the quote botton. Tenx. I guess I made it.

manday,

i tried to get into this before, of course, it was K_spy who introduced me into the world of books.it was during our heydays in tago, when town plaza was a fave nightly destination. i likened the habit as getting hook in a telenovela. though, it was a short lived affair but it was worth it. my two pamangkins ( daughter of herbert ) are book freaks too. they got this from their mom. needless to mention the countless benefits from it but above all, it will develop a habit of staying home. Reading, as a hobby, is what most people in jail regret the most..you know what i mean ... luv to give it another try but cant anymore!!!

[manday]

Sug kamusta na mga anak maguwang mo mga college na siguro amo? kan Violeta isab na guapa na maguwang mo may college na isab? I can guess they are also cute and beautiful as cutie and admirable daughter of yours - just wonder where they are now.

[kampanaryo_spy]

manday,

i tried to get into this before, of course, it was K_spy who introduced me into the world of books.it was during our heydays in tago, when town plaza was a fave nightly destination. i likened the habit as getting hook in a telenovela. though, it was a short lived affair but it was worth it. my two pamangkins ( daughter of herbert ) are book freaks too. they got this from their mom. needless to mention the countless benefits from it but above all, it will develop a habit of staying home. Reading, as a hobby, is what most people in jail regret the most..you know what i mean ... luv to give it another try but cant anymore!!!

sugz,

this reminds me of the books and DVDs (mostly Oscar winning films that analyn sent me) that you forgot to return. [-(


manday,

yup, ann is a bookworm who has an expansive collection of books and mags right inside her room. you're right, it gives you the feeling that you're inside a library.

ann has sent me countless books including THE DA VINCI CODE (hard bound), MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, GOD OF SMALL THINGS, etc. She has a habit of buying books even if now she rarely has time to read them. guess that's the mark of a true bibliophile!

my friendship with ann dates back to high school when we swapped komiks and magazines. Does anybody here know what happened to Lora, the governess of Marnelli who was the daughter of Brandon in Wakasan's AT SUMANIB ANG LANGIS SA TUBIG?

whoa! i really miss discussing books with friends in casual tete-a-tete on lazy saturday afternoons.

[manday]

K_spy bagan si Judstump an makatubang nan inin imo pangutana. Kun may Ann sa batch 79, sa batch 80 isab may Judstamp isab na addict isab nan komiks, pareho sila kinarton an komiks. Just wait for her arrival, I think she is still in the road home to WA from her vacation from Pennsylvania.

Speaking of Maritess,she is the simpliest woman I ever knew, sa ila isab batch siya isab an pinaka bright, kun sa math dakan isab brighti, flat 1 sa gayod niya, yagka classmate kami sa USC sa Business math ay ay kinaon nya, si Lolong (Felipe) Laurente permi sya pagahanap kay classmate sa sila iban na Math subject. Siya yaka supo kan Iyo David (well read person) reader's digest, newsweek, asiaweek updated sa gayod sila. Si titess supo sa iya, very simple kun buot hunahunaon she can work anywhere (dili sa lugar muurong inin iya utok kay gani kun unoy mga exam maka pasar sa lugar sya) bisan sa Tandag da lamang siya kun dili sya magpahilayo, pasar sa niya tanan exam kun unoy mga exam for employment but she rather stays in where she is now ( kadayawi lamang niya dili gayod siya malintar).We were dormmates at Sta. Rita, same with Marichu ( maray).Classmate sa sila. I miss them too.

[badung]

K-spy,

I started crying when I was on page 50 of the book, A Thousand Splendid Suns. Mariam said to her father, Jalil, " It ends here for you and me. Say your good-byes."

I remember the movie, Fiddler on the Roof. There was a similar send-off scene. I was also crying. It's maybe because it is really difficult to leave your family behind. And parting is such a confusing moment. There's always a mixture of emotions.

[kampanaryo_spy]

badung,

indeed goodbye is such a sweet sorrow. and it's been said many ways, "Casablanca's" "here's looking at you kid" is one. But is there a sadder goodbye than what Annie Proulx wrote in "Brokeback Mountain?"

abb is yet to send me, as promised, "A Thousand Splendid Suns," and so i can't cry with you. for now, at least.

[Insomada]

This is what I like with our virtual community. It entices and encourages us to open up, to participate, to contribute (if there are any) and most of all learn from each other. K-Spy’s and Abb’s wit in the subject of reading and writing is an irrefutable evidence of their love and passion for same. Undoubtedly they are erudite people whose knowledge and skills in this area catapulted them to fame and elevated them to the higher echelon of society. Don’t you ever question me on this guys! What’s amazing with them are their unfeigned efforts to continuously exhibit and share their knowledge with us. I learn a lot from them and I guess others as well. You guys epitomize Ophra for wanting her audience indulge in reading. Thank you so much for inspiring us.

In the early part of our settlement in Aust, fate has dealt me with an unpleasant hand. Akin to someone who is a new settler to a place, I was battered by homesickness not to mention post natal depression after a gruesome delivery with my second son, Teriyaki. My world fell apart and remained torpid for quite awhile. I was in a deep slumber. However, I engrossed myself doing a worthy cause when asked to volunteer as an interpreter for Operation Smile patients and their parents who couldn't speak English. Operation Smile is a charity organization which is heavily involved in bringing patients with craniofacial deformities to Brisbane from Phils & other Asian countries and be operated in one of the most prestigious hospitals in Australia. Apart from that, I read any reading materials and was most enthusiastic reading self help/motivational and parenting books. Motivational books were my tools in reshaping my shattered self. Unlike my dad whose penchant for reading proved insatiable for him, reading to me wasn't really done in a fervent manner, only second to cooking and third to fraternizing with people. It was not long ago that I shifted having novels as my reading materials inspired by the aforementioned people. Since then my reading habit has intensified that I have almost read all of John Grisham's masterpieces and some of Dan Brown's. A handful of other books by an assortment of authors were also read. Certainly the Kite Runner would be on my hit list this time as I am still finishing The Rain Maker by the same author. Again, I say, thank you K-Spy and Abbs for your influence on us. You inspired us tremendously on this.

Teriyaki had just finished "The Client" and has just started "The Summons". Adobo is on with "The Firm." Oh boy he loves it. They both read the first book of Harry Potter but the book failed to seize their interests.