I just finished reading the kite runner and I think it might just be one of the best books I have read. The way the characters were portrayed, the descriptions- short yet vivid, and to be able to imagine something I had no proper information on(am talking about Afghanistan’s history) was truly exhilarating. I have searched for books which can capture my attention, and be able to have the ability to keep me motivated enough to finish the whole book. This book has been able to do exactly that. Kept me on the edge of my seat, as I turned every page, nearing the end of the book. Along with being relevant this was truly something. To be able to interwine fact and fiction so gracefully, is exactly what I wanted.
What about you guys? Have you guys read The kite runner? If so how did you find it? … ngl the movie did not do justice to the original book that’s for sure.
It wasn’t until I got to the public stoning scene, far into the book, that I suddenly spotted the “fiction” label on the back cover. Had thought it was autobiographical up to then.
Any other books like this set in historical periods during courses of war like Vietnam or Bangladesh?
The lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri ig?
The Quiet American is in Vietnam in 1954. Graham Green.
Not exactly what you’re asking but The Bee Keeper of Aleppo is something you might like.
I read it maybe a decade ago. All of his books are amazing. Kite Runner both haunted and blew me away.
The fact that this book is actually 2 decades old blows me away, because of how relevant it still is.
I adored that book even though it absolutely broke my heart! Glad to see it get some love here. My husband hated it ☹️
i love this and a thousand splendid suns so much but i will never ever be able to read them both ever again because both antagonists of both novels enraged me so much 💔
I feel you… am sure you will get over this in due time and be able to read them again though :)
One of my favorite books! Definitely agree with other people saying to read A Thousand Splendid Suns too. I actually went to see the play when it had a limited run on Broadway last year and felt that it didn’t do the book justice, but it was still pretty good. I just think the book didn’t translate well to the stage and it was no one’s fault. I haven’t seen the movie but I’ve heard some of the stuff it changes and I think it would frustrate me too much to watch.
yeah, watching a graphic scene is very different from reading one, cause the latter solely/very largely depends on the readers imagination.
It’s been a long time since I last read it, but I remember thoroughly enjoying it as well. I had considered watching the movie, too, but decided to give it a pass after IMDB mentioned that it contained a graphic rape scene. I know that it’s related to the events of the book, but that was… you know… text. But it doesn’t sound like I was missing anything, either way.
Yeah! I too think the book is way better than the movie (as in most cases) and it’s better that we leave the visualisation of the graphic scenes upto our imaginations.
I was analyzing it with a student (I teaching English language arts as a tutor), and I only heard the name before. So since I already have a backlog of books and it wasn’t something that I normally seek out, I just read a summary. I found the concept of morbidly fascinating and the writing fantastic, but the subject matter is not something I would dive into outside of an analysis (a bit too dark for me to read for fun). I also looked up summaries of his other works shortly after.
I think it has more meaning to me because I’m someone that grew up as the War on Terror was starting (grew up and I am in the United States, and not directly affected, but I for sure knew what it was and what it meant). So that made it even more profound and I could really empathize with what the people were going through and appreciate what it took for the author to write that. My student was younger, so I’m not sure they did, but I hope it’s a story that continues to get told, and people appreciate and understand what it means.
As someone with a south Asian background, most of the cultural aspects of the book were easier for me to understand, and I see how it can differ with different cultural backgrounds. Some of the farsi , Arabic, and urdu words which were dropped occasionally in the book were quite easy for me to infer the meaning of due to my background, and therefore it was all the more appealing to me. So this can definitely be a big factor to not liking the book right? I personally had like no proper knowledge on Afghanistan’s history as of this manner, and this has been a nice introduction to it. We are being shown the sufferings of thousands just through the portrayal of a few characters and I think it sends out quite the message.
My Junior High teacher had us read the Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. I’ve never dreaded English class more. They were so well written but so depressing and made me cry. Ha.
‘For you, a thousand times over’ the way this single phrase made me cry everytime it showed up.
Khaled Hosseini is no doubt a great writer, but I ended up disliking this book. It went from a tale of friendship and betrayal to really just being poverty and terror porn. The bad guys are bad. Not just a Taliban, the bad guy also admires Hitler, because he’s half German and one dimensionally evil. There’s no historical discussion of how Afghanistan came to be. There’s no understanding of the complexity that exists in quagmire situations. It’s just simple characters in a war torn land, and wouldn’t be half as popular but for the fact that NATO was currently at war in Afghanistan at the time.
I watched the movie first… sadly.
The book is much much better than the movie. I don’t know why they always do that!
ikr! like always… either they are very bad at making movies or our imaginations are too powerful to be reckoned with🤣
I sobbed so hard when I read it. It was my friend’s copy. Back then I had not much money to buy a lot of the books I want so I borrow any time I can. Now I have a job with extra money to spend on my hobby and I bought a copy of the book for my personal library. Idk if I will ever reread it again but it left such a deep impact on me that I never thought twice about buying it. Maybe one day when I need a good cry I’ll read it again.
You can imagine my surprise when I was recommended this book by my school librarian in 6th grade. I couldn’t put it down but was definitely haunted by one of the parts.
I was recommended it too but in 11th grade !
Try “House of Sand and Fog”. VERY good.