Audio Book Review

KITE RUNNER
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Unabridged Fiction

Afghanistan of the 1970's through the Taliban (pre U.S. invasion) is the backdrop for this remarkable story of shattered childhoods, betrayal, redemption, and human suffering.

Read by the author, an Afghan emigree from the early 1980's, the audio read is simply remarkable. With such a passion for telling his story, enough personal relationship to the country and its suffering to convey it, and a thick Afghan accent and proper pronunciation the listener is drawn into the story and the setting. About a third of the way into the book I had to remind myself that this was fiction, not autobiography.

Amir is the son of a wealthy and highly-respected Afghan businessman in the final years of the Afghan monarchy, which was toppled by a coup and then eventually the Soviet invasion. Hassan was Amir's playmate, the son of the house servant. Amir, blessed with a wealthy father and cursed with the death of his mother in giving him birth, he struggles with his identity and the serious cultural issues of his country.

I won't give away the story here, but Amir and Hassan are split apart in a shocking set of betrayals. With the arrival of the Soviet invasion, Amir and his father flee for a new life in the U.S. A life tortured by guilt, the adult Amir is called back to Afghanistan to see his countryland devastated by the Soviets and then the Taliban. What he is really called back for is an opportunity to right his very deepest wrong and to demonstrate courage for the first time in his life.

A truly remarkable story, the Kite Runner (a title referencing a boy's game in Afghanistan) is also a fascinating look at Afghan history and the unbelievable tragedies experienced. The first half of the book, focusing on Amir's childhood is the best part of it. The second half is somewhat predictable and just a tad bit hokey, maybe because it is so heavily weighted in the Taliban context (horrible, indeed) that the author is unlikely to have experienced himself. This is not a book of cheerfulness, but is filled with sorrow and enlightenment about Afghanistan, it's people, and the horrible things that people can do to each other.