THE KITE RUNNER
By Khaled Hosseini
Bloomsbury. £12.99
ISBN 0 7475 6652 6
I’m a bit slow on the uptake with this book. It was first published three years ago, and I’d not heard of it until a month ago, when a friend pressed it into my hands and insisted that I read it. Well I have, and now I want to urge others to read it, too.
Written by an Afghan doctor who left his homeland for the US as a teenager during the days of Communist rule, the novel encompasses the recent past of Afghanistan’s violent history, and also a deeply personal story of friendship, betrayal and atonement. Amir narrates his story of growing up as the privileged only son of a wealthy widower and with Hassan, motherless son of a household servant. Every morning Hassan prepares Amir’s breakfast, irons his school clothes and then spends the day working with his father until Amir returns from school.. Then Hassan is free to play with Amir and to listen to him read. The friendship between the boys and also the intense jealousy Amir feels towards Hassan are acutely described, in simple, concrete language.
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