Amir grew up in Kabul, Afghanistan. His closest companion was the son of his father's servant. The boy, Hassan, was about the same age as Amir. Not only was Hassan Amir's closest companion but he also prepared his breakfast, cleaned his bedroom and took care of his clothes.
All his life Amir had ambivalent feelings about Hassan. Amir spent most of his time with Hassan, yet he did not consider him his friend. Amir went to school but Hassan did not and was illiterate. Yet even though Amir had book smarts, Hassan was no fool and Amir was aware of this and rather disconcerted by it. After all, Hassan was his servant and thus shouldn't be better than Amir at anything. But Hassan was better at lots of things. He was athletic, intelligent, kind, gentle, brave and loyal. Amir was also intelligent but he was not the athlete Hassan was nor was he as good a person. Another thing that bothered Amir was that his father seemed to approve of Hassan but seemed to be disappointed in his own son, Amir.
Every year in Kabul there was a kite flying contest. The boys would fly their kites and attack each other's kites and the last kite left flying was the winner. As the defeated kites fell to the ground, the kids would run after them and claim them for their own. Hassan excelled at running down and finding the falling kites, he seemed to know where they would land by instinct.
One year, Amir entered the kite contest and Hassan promised him that if Amir won, Hassan would run and catch the final defeated kite for a trophy for Amir. Amir won the contest and Hassan ran off to find the fallen kite. He was gone for a long time and Amir went looking for him. He discovered Hassan being sexually assaulted by a neighborhood boy that has bullied the two boys in the past. Amir hid and watched the assault but was too frightened to intervene.
Amir can't cope with his feelings of failure and guilt. He can't face Hassan knowing he did nothing to help him. So he framed Hassan for a petty theft and Hassan and his father leave. Amir's father is very upset that Hassan and his father won't stay.
When the Russians invaded Afghanistan, Amir and his father fled to the United States. Amir's father, who was an important and wealthy man in Afghanistan, could only find work at a gas station. Amir settled in to American life pretty well, going to college, working with his father selling stuff at a flea market to make a little extra money. He met an Afghani woman and fell in love and married. His father became ill and died. Amir and his wife try to have kids but can't.
One day, Amir was summoned back to the Middle East by an old friend of his father's. He told Amir that Hassan is dead, killed by the Taliban, and that Hassan's son is in an orphanage. He wanted Amir to get the boy, Sohrab, out of the orphanage. Amir agreed to go back to Afghanistan and rescue the little boy, and in the process faced his own failings and personal demons.
This was a pretty good book. The first part, about Amir's childhood and the last part, where Amir comes back to Afghanistan to rescue the orphan were more interesting than the middle part, where Amir is in America going to college and meeting the woman he will marry. That part was kind of draggy. It was interesting to get a glimpse of Afghani culture as portrayed in the novel. It is hard to understand how a group like the Taliban could ever appeal to anyone. Reading a book like The Kite Runner may not help one understand that, but at least it is an introduction to a very different society than what is in the West.
Review by Sarah A. Smith in the Guardian.
New Word
Caracul: Hardy coarse-haired sheep of central Asia; the lambs are valued for their soft curly black fur. "Baba was wearing a green suit and a caracul hat."
No comments:
Post a Comment