Book Review of Kite Runner

Book Review of ‘The Kite Runner’

“For you, a thousand times over”, this sentence said by Hassan to Amir has been on my mind since I finished reading the novel. The story took place in the 70s in Afghanistan. Amir was a child of a wealthy family and Hassan was the son of Amir family`s servant, Ali. They played and grew up together; the strong friendship bonded them like brothers. As can be seen from the novel and the sentence at the beginning, Hassan was willing to do anything for Amir whenever Amir encountered any troubles. Nevertheless, Amir made a terrible mistake when he watched and stood by, while Hassan was raped by Assef after winning the unprecedented grand kite game. In order to drive Hassan out of the house, Amir put his watch under Hassan`s pillow, implying that Hassan had stolen it. When Russia invaded Afghanistan, Amir left his hometown with his father and fled to Pakistan.

In 1988, Amir and his family/father had a nice life when Amir graduated, having attended a public college in California. Afterwards Amir became a famous novelist. However, Amir suffered agonies of remorse as he could not forgive himself for his unatoned sin for betraying Hassan. At the end, Amir started his journey of redemption and came back to his home town and saved Sohrab (son of Hassan) from the Taliban after he received a phone call from Rahim Khan.

The characters of this novel feel real because it is a biography of the author. The destiny of Hassan was miserable, not only was he born with a harelip, but was discriminated for being a Hazara. Hassan was the most loyal servant of Amir. He was devoted to Amir throughout his whole life until he was killed by the Taliban for protecting Amir`s house. However, he was betrayed by his best friend.

Actually, Hassan and Amir were brothers by the same father Baba who had an affair with Ali's wife; Hassan was therefore his illegitimate son. Baba was Amir`s father, a wealthy and a well-respected man in his country. Baba wished Amir...