The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

A great book!  While A Thousand Splendid Suns is about two women, The Kite Runner is about two men and son/father relationship. I find the latter is not so much a tearjerker as the former. In Afghanistan, man is granted ‘position of power’ all because he ‘had won at the genetic lottery’ that determined his sex.  Despite the win, Amir, the main character in the book was subjected to ‘a cycle of lies, betrayals and secrets’ till the age of 38.  The book talks about courage – courage to speak the truth, courage to live with the truth, courage to face one’s desolation & courage to atone one’s past wrong.

Detailed book review can be found http://www.examiner.com/review/book-review-of-the-kite-runner-by-khaled-hosseini and many other websites. 

Some other points I noted/observed:

Kite tournament is a popular activity among boys in Afghanistan. String is coated with broken glass to cut the string of other kites. The winner is the last kite flying. The other winning is to possess the last kite that is being cut. Kite Runner runs after cut kite.

Like India’s caste system, Afghanistan’s upper class (Pashtun) discriminates against the lower class (Hazara).  It seems Afghanistan people gossip a lot and are prone to exaggeration.

If one makes a promise to a child, he/she better keeps it, else….