The Kite Runner

The book I am reviewing is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1965 which happens to be the setting at the start of this novel. The Kite Runner tells of the harrowing life of two young boys in Kabul around the time of the Soviet-Afghan war; it tells of their childhood mistakes and how these mistakes were rectified later in life.

In The Kite Runner, the main character, Amir witnesses his best friend Hassan being raped by a neighborhood bully named Assef. Feeling guilty about his failure to help his friend, Amir is unable to face Hassan. Wanting him banished from the house, he frames him for stealing money. Hassan and his father then flee the house and are never seen again. Amir and his father later leave for Pakistan and then America before the Soviet invasion begins. Decades later, a family friend by the name of Rahim calls Amir and tells him that there is a way to redeem himself. Amir then travels back to Afghanistan, fights the aforementioned neighborhood bully, and brings Hassan’s son, Sohrab, back to America for him and his wife to adopt. In time, Amir feels that this compensates for his failure to help Hassan when he needed it most. In many ways, The Kite Runner is a very historically relevant novel. It takes place from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s. It takes you through Afghanistan during the

In The Kite Runner, Hassan represents loyalty while Amir represents the lack of it. Through all that happens, Hassan is unwavering in his unspoken promise to always be there for Amir. However, something as simple as cowardice or the social ranking between them leads Amir to betray his friend. This leaves him feeling guilty and unresolved. Redemption seems to be an important theme because it is only after Amir rescues Sohrab several decades later that he feels pardoned for his failure to speak up when Hassan was