Genre Fiction
![Khaled Hosseini - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001HCX9N0.jpg)
The Kite Runner
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel beloved by millions of readers the world over.
"A vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people [of Afghanistan] have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence-forces that continue to threaten them even today." –New York Times Book Review
The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, caught in the tragic sweep of history, The Kite Runner transports readers to Afghanistan at a tense and crucial moment of change and destruction. A powerful story of friendship, it is also about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons-their love, their sacrifices, their lies.
Since its publication in 2003 Kite Runner has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic of contemporary literature, touching millions of readers, and launching the career of one of America's most treasured writers.
"A vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people [of Afghanistan] have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence-forces that continue to threaten them even today." –New York Times Book Review
The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, caught in the tragic sweep of history, The Kite Runner transports readers to Afghanistan at a tense and crucial moment of change and destruction. A powerful story of friendship, it is also about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons-their love, their sacrifices, their lies.
Since its publication in 2003 Kite Runner has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic of contemporary literature, touching millions of readers, and launching the career of one of America's most treasured writers.
Editorial Reviews
"[A] powerful first novel... political events, even as dramatic as the ones that are presented in The Kite Runner, are only a part of this story. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini gives us a vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence-forces that continue to threaten them even today."-The New York Times Book Review
"A beautiful novel... This unusually eloquent story is also about the fragile relationship between fathers and sons, humans and their gods, men and their countries. Loyalty and blood are the ties that bind their stories into one of the most lyrical, moving and unexpected books this year." --The Denver Post
"A marvelous first novel... the story of two young boys who are friends in Afghanistan, and an incredible story of the culture. It's an old-fashioned kind of novel that really sweeps you away." --San Francisco Chronicle
"This extraordinary novel locates the personal struggles of everyday people in the terrible sweep of history." --People
"A moving portrait of modern Afghanistan." -Entertainment Weekly"A powerful book...no frills, no nonsense, just hard, spare prose...an intimate account of family and friendship, betrayal and salvation that requires no atlas or translation to engage and enlighten us. Parts of The Kite Runner are raw and excruciating to read, yet the book in its entirety is lovingly written."-The Washington Post Book World
"An astonishing, powerful book."-Diane Sawyer
"A beautiful novel... This unusually eloquent story is also about the fragile relationship between fathers and sons, humans and their gods, men and their countries. Loyalty and blood are the ties that bind their stories into one of the most lyrical, moving and unexpected books this year." --The Denver Post
"A marvelous first novel... the story of two young boys who are friends in Afghanistan, and an incredible story of the culture. It's an old-fashioned kind of novel that really sweeps you away." --San Francisco Chronicle
"This extraordinary novel locates the personal struggles of everyday people in the terrible sweep of history." --People
"A moving portrait of modern Afghanistan." -Entertainment Weekly"A powerful book...no frills, no nonsense, just hard, spare prose...an intimate account of family and friendship, betrayal and salvation that requires no atlas or translation to engage and enlighten us. Parts of The Kite Runner are raw and excruciating to read, yet the book in its entirety is lovingly written."-The Washington Post Book World
"An astonishing, powerful book."-Diane Sawyer
Readers Top Reviews
ashutoshRitika Chhab
This review is not about the book 'Kite Runner', but this particular copy of book which I received. This was like one of those books that you get outside railway stations and on traffic signals. Text was blemished at many places and required some guesswork while reading, margins were uneven and not straight like in pirated books. I was only concerned with the content of the book so I didn't bother returning it but thought I should at least mention it. Edit: As I read further, I found some pages are not in right order (see picture) Page 133 is before Page 132. Reducing the Rating to 1. Ideally, It should be looked into and pirated books should not be allowed on Amazon.
Aditi Bansal
This is a story about friendship, sacrifice, love, lies, repentance, tragedy, pain and redemption. Amir and Hassan, who lives in Afghanistan were nursed by a same woman as both of them lost their mothers immediately after their birth. As they grew up together in a same home they became inseparable. Hassan was the closest thing to a best friend Amir ever had. But he never accepted that in public as they both belonged to a different community. Hassan was a Hazara boy who belonged to Shi'a community. He was the son of Amir's servant. Whereas Amir was a Pashtun and was the son of one of the most renowned man of the town, a Sunni. Hassan was a brave and honest boy, a loyal friend and he was the best "kite runner" of the town. He was deadly with his slingshot. He was a pure soul and a true friend. Whereas Amir was a coward, mean and an egoistic boy. His head was always buried in books. He had become a good writer and a poet at a very young age. Hassan on the other hand never went to school. Amir used to read Hassan various stories but sometimes he teased Hassan for the words he had never heard of as he was an illiterate. Hassan being innocent and kind never minded that. When Amir was young he used to long for his father's love. He could go to any length to achieve his father's affection and love which was missing from his life. In the winter of 1975, Amir won the "Kite fighting tournament" and won his father's love too. But that happiness didn't last too long as in the same winter a horrible event occured which destroyed everything. Hassan had always went out of his way to help Amir. Whenever they were in trouble Hassan used to take stand for Amir and always saved him from any ruckus. But when Amir's time came to pay Hassan back for what he had done for him, he backed out. He betrayed his own friend who had always been there for him like his own brother. Amir pretended as if he didn't see anything. Little did he know that thing will haunt him forever and even after 26 years he will not be able to sleep peacefully at night. So this is the story of Amir's search for redemption and peace. That how he returned back to a new but jeopardized Kabul from his comfortable life in America and how he got his peace back somehow but in broken pieces. The devastation of Afghanistan, the abolishment of monarchy, the Russian invasion and then Taliban rule has been described very boldly and is really heartbreaking. This book is not for the light-hearted people at all. This is a tragic story which will leave you sad and heartbroken. I have read the other two books of Khaled Hosseini as well. This book is a lot better than "And the mountains echoed" but still I like "A thousand splendid suns" the best.
sam warburton
I served in Kabul, Afghanistan with the British army in 2017, we use to stag on (guard duty) in sangars (guard towers) from which we could see almost all of the city, I saw so much from those towers, sand storms, stray dogs, bomb blasts, the mountains that seemed to be surrounded by higher ones, flares falling from the sky like wings of an angel shot out of NATO helicopters from time to time, the huge Afghan flag on a hill thats name I have forgotten, diving board towers that I thought were ANA sangars at a camp untill I realised they were diving board towers at an old swimming pool, research told me the Taliban used to execute people from them when they took power, the pollution that was on another level, hundreds of people on there way to the mosques to pray when ever the songs played, the list could go on and on and on... The one thing I saw as I eyed the sky for Taliban drones was kites, despite everything else that happened there I think it's the one thing I will always remember, they were mesmerising to watch, i had always wondered what kind of a childhood the children flying them would have? how long they would know the innocence of child hood? it's a tough place for a soldier at times let alone a kid, this book I guess answered it for me, it was hard for me to read, I cried and laughed, had to put it down and then come back to it, I will admit I thought it was a memoir right untill the final word. To me Kabul was a sad place, somewhere I would not want to go back too, but I'm a hopefull person and I hope life will get better for the people of Afghan, I know in places and some ways it has. This book is sad, beautiful and honest. It reminded me of the Afghanis I met, the places I went, I could see the streets the author wrote about, the characters too. Ultimately, It's made me want to continue to be a better person, and its answered some of my questions. "tashakor", Khaled Hosseini.
JenP
This was a great book. I really did enjoy it. The story is of a wealthy boy in Kabul, Afghanistan and a servant boy at his home who become friends. The wealthy boy pines for his father's affection (his mother died giving birth to him) but he never fully gets it (or his dad's approval). The boys are each other's playmates until they are about 10 when something terrible happens to the servant boy. The wealthy boy witnessed it, but ran instead of helped. And the wealthy boy never saw the servant boy again. The wealthy boy moves to America with his father when the Taliban takes over Kabul and there he finds college, a wife, and a new life. Until one day, he gets a call from an old family friend asking him to return to Kabul because he has to see him. And this is where I will end my review because I do not want to give away what happens when he returns. It really was a great story. I found myself gripping the book tightly in the end. I wondered what had happened to the servant boy and if the wealthy boy would ever see him again. I encourage you to read this book. There is even a movie that goes along with it!
melissa TriolaRonald
Hated the book. Ruthlessly brutal for no reason other than shock value. I read to help my nephew with his junior report and he couldn’t make it through half the book. I finished it. But was questioning the school board for the book selection the entire read. We’re they going for a cultural introduction?...100 books could have accomplished this. We’re there going for showing a caste system? Again 100 books could show this. We’re they going for a book showing the importance’s of the choices you make haunting you through your life? Heck the Christmas Carroll accomplishes this. But to have high schoolers (not even seniors) reading this with sodomization, child rape, caste segregation, mass murder
Short Excerpt Teaser
KHALED HOSSEINI was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, the son of a diplomat whose family received political asylum in the United States in 1980. He lives in northern California, where he is a physician. The Kite Runner is his first novel.
KHALED HOSSEINI
THE KITE RUNNER
RIVERHEAD BOOKS
NEW YORK
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to the following colleagues for their advice, assistance, or support: Dr. Alfred Lerner, Dori Vakis, Robin Heck, Dr. Todd Dray, Dr. Robert Tull, and Dr. Sandy Chun. Thanks also to Lynette Parker of East San Jose Community Law Center for her advice about adoption procedures, and to Mr. Daoud Wahab for sharing his experiences in Afghanistan with me. I am grateful to my dear friend Tamim Ansary for his guidance and support and to the gang at the San Francisco Writers Workshop for their feedback and encouragement. I want to thank my father, my oldest friend and the inspiration for all that is noble in Baba; my mother who prayed for me and did nazr at every stage of this book's writing; my aunt for buying me books when I was young. Thanks go out to Ali, Sandy, Daoud, Walid, Raya, Shalla, Zahra, Rob, and Kader for reading my stories. I want to thank Dr. and Mrs. Kayoumy-my other parents-for their warmth and unwavering support.
I must thank my agent and friend, Elaine Koster, for her wisdom, patience, and gracious ways, as well as Cindy Spiegel, my keen-eyed and judicious editor who helped me unlock so many doors in this tale. And I would like to thank Susan Petersen Kennedy for taking a chance on this book and the hardworking staff at Riverhead for laboring over it.
Last, I don't know how to thank my lovely wife, Roya-to whose opinion I am addicted-for her kindness and grace, and for reading, re-reading, and helping me edit every single draft of this novel. For your patience and understanding, I will always love you, Roya jan.
THE KITE RUNNER
ONE
December 2001
I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.
One day last summer, my friend Rahim Khan called from Pakistan. He asked me to come see him. Standing in the kitchen with the receiver to my ear, I knew it wasn't just Rahim Khan on the line. It was my past of unatoned sins. After I hung up, I went for a walk along Spreckels Lake on the northern edge of Golden Gate Park. The early-afternoon sun sparkled on the water where dozens of miniature boats sailed, propelled by a crisp breeze. Then I glanced up and saw a pair of kites, red with long blue tails, soaring in the sky. They danced high above the trees on the west end of the park, over the windmills, floating side by side like a pair of eyes looking down on San Francisco, the city I now call home. And suddenly Hassan's voice whispered in my head: For you, a thousand times over. Hassan the harelipped kite runner.
I sat on a park bench near a willow tree. I thought about something Rahim Khan said just before he hung up, almost as an afterthought. There is a way to be good again. I looked up at those twin kites. I thought about Hassan. Thought about Baba. Ali. Kabul. I thought of the life I had lived until the winter of 1975 came along and changed everything. And made me what I am today.
TWO
When we were children, Hassan and I used to climb th...
