Chrissy

Okay, so the middle portion of The Kite Runner is so much different from the beginning. The main character Amir and his father move to the United States and start a whole new life there. They become a lot closer and are finally at peace when his father dies from cancer. Amir gets married and pursues his dream of becoming a writer. Hassan and all the drama from the beginning of the book are mostly put on hold. I liked this portion of the book because it allowed me to warm up more to Amir, but at the same time it didn’t have as many ideas and concepts. The majority of it was basic story-telling. Now, the book has moved back into a confusing, weird phase with the resurfacing of the relationship between Amir and Hassan. Apparently they’re half-brothers and have the same mom or dad or something like that. It wasn’t explained very well so I’m a little confused as to how that happened. But now I really just want to finish the book so I can figure out what’s going on and how this is all going to end. I feel like Amir is going to perform some brave act of kindness to redeem himself for what he did to Hassan years ago. But who knows?

So far The Kite Runner has been a really good read, but it’s tough to get through because I’m starting to really dislike the main character, Amir. He was raised with a boy his age, Hassan, who is the son of the family servant. They would play together all throughout their childhood and yet Amir admits at the very beginning of the book that he’s never once referred to Hassan as his friend. It’s only because Hassan is an uneducated servant and a Hazara, which is the religion that was highly suppressed and looked down upon in Afghanistan at the time. I think Amir is weak for not being able to accept his friendship with Hassan as a real one and show it with pride, or at least respect it. He literally watched Hassan get bullied and raped at the end of a deserted alleyway and did nothing. He ran away and pretended he didn’t see it happen. I don’t care if it’s your best friend or a complete stranger, a decent person wouldn’t just watch that happen. Then he tried to get Hassan and his father fired because he couldn’t live with the guilt he felt everytime they were around. I’m about one third of the way through the book, and at this point Hassan has just told his father, Ali, everything that’s happened to him. Ali was so upset and disappointed in Amir’s lack of integrity they left and stopped working for Amir’s family even though he and Baba, Amir’s father, are best friends. After reading all of this, I understand why The Kite Runner relates to the concept of evil. It gives me to goosebumps to know that’s the way Amir treated someone who was practically his brother. I think Hassan was a true, loyal friend-a much better and wiser person than Amir. Maybe if Amir was younger I’d understand that he was immature and still heavily influenced by society, but I would think that by his teenage years Amir would see through things and realize Hassan was more than just a Hazara servant, but a friend.

For our first indepedent reading assignment I’ve decided to read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I chose to read this book for a couple of reasons. First of all, I didn’t really want to read about the Puritans or the Scottish Play, no offense to them. Also, a few people have recommended The Kite Runner to me, so when I saw it on the list I figured I might as well try it.

I don’t really have any predetermined expectations from this book, except that I hope its good. I can’t recall ever learning something about the revolution that takes place in the main character’s country or it being invaded by Russian forces, though both of these events are mentioned on the back cover. Besides the fact that this somehow relates to evil, I really have no idea what its about. I’m basically winging it and hoping its a fun read I learn something from.