#ThrowbackThursday. The Kite Runner

 

Hosseini, Khaled "The Kite Runner" - 2003

A very informative book about Afghanistan and life for the people in it. Definitely worth reading.

We discussed this in our international book club in October 2007.

Read my original review here.

Hosseini, Khaled "And the Mountains Echoed"

Hosseini, Khaled "And the Mountains Echoed" - 2013

So far, I have read three books by Khaled Hosseini, the three books he has written so far. I liked "The Kite Runner", I loved "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and I thought that this one was one of the best books I have read in a long time (and I read a lot). One proof how much I was looking forward to this is that I even read it before it was out in paperback. I prefer those editions, they are easier to hold and to carry around.

Khaled Hosseini is a wonderful author. Such beautiful penmanship, such a gift for telling a story of his war-torn home country. He is an author where you don't think another great book like this will come along anytime soon. His book leaves you with a feeling that it can't be over yet, why are there only 400 pages?

"So, then. You want a story and I will tell you one..." This is how the story begins. Abdullah's and Pari's father Saboor loves telling stories and the children love listening to him. What they don't know, his stories are often parables that shine into their own lives, good or bad. The novel tells us about town and village life in Afghanistan but also about the lives of Afghan expatriates in France and the United States of America as well as that of foreigners living in Afghanistan. He mentions them all. We meet rich people and poor people, good and bad ones. We learn about siblings, sibling rivalry and sibling love. About friendship, marriage, sickness and health, this is a novel about everything. The story spans over several generations and more than half a century, starting in the 40s in Afghanistan and ending at the beginning of this century in California. I don't want to give away too much and I would have to do that if I delved deeper into the story. I just want to add that this books raises so many questions about the why and how we live, what kind of decisions people make and what the implications are on the lives of so many. I would say it is quite philosophical in that respect but also tells a gripping story you don't want to put away until you're finished.

What I specifically loved about this book, it starts immediately, no long introduction to get used to the characters, no description of any kind what was before (that comes later), I love how he starts with a splash. You don't have to read about fifty pages to know whether you will like this book. You will like it from the beginning.

If you only read one new book this year, "And the Mountains Echoed" should be it!

The only disappointment, now that I read his newest book so fast, it will take even longer to wait for the next one.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"So, then. You want a story and I will tell you one...
 
Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their father and stepmother in the small village of Shadbagh. Their father, Saboor, is constantly in search of work and they struggle together through poverty and brutal winters. To Abdullah, Pari, as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named, is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their skulls touching, their limbs tangled.
 
One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand.
 
Crossing generations and continents, moving from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos, with profound wisdom, depth, insight and compassion, Khaled Hosseini writes about the bonds that define us and shape our lives, the ways that we help our loved ones in need, how the choices we make resonate through history, and how we are often surprised by the people closest to us."

Hosseini, Khaled "A Thousand Splendid Suns"

Hosseini, Khaled "A Thousand Splendid Suns" - 2007

I'm not sure whether I would have picked up this book if it hadn't been a book club read. We read "The Kite Runner" in October 2007, the year, this book was published. We had read quite a few Afghanistan books previously and I was probably just expecting something else.

Anyway, I'm glad this novel was chosen for our reading list this year. Because I really enjoyed the book. And it is always fantastic getting together with so many lovely girls discussing the most interesting subjects.

This is only one of many Afghanistan books this group has read over the years. Such an important subject. We had a lot of positive comments to this novel. Good story, gripping, difficult to put down, drew you into this subject, spirit of the human heart, how people can find pleasure and joy. Someone said the book is haunting, couldn't agree more. But not just in a negative way. It also gives you hope, hope that people still go on after everything they go through and still want to work toward a better life for everyone.

This book touches a lot of subjects, of which we were only able to discusss a few, I think one could make this an all-week feature:
·    Abuse to women and children. If you give someone power, they will use it. If abuse is not punished, people will abuse others.
·    Importance of education, not just for women and children/girls, also for men
·    Child marriages
·    Tribes
·    Mother-daughter-relationship, sisterhood, amazing how a man can write this
·    Religion

Certainly a worthwhile read, even if you didn't enjoy Kaleid Hosseini's first book.

We discussed this in our international book club in June 2011.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. It is his second, following his bestselling 2003 debut, The Kite Runner. The book, which spans a period of over 40 years, from the 1960s to 2003, focuses on the tumultuous lives and relationship of Mariam and Laila, two Afghan women. Mariam, an illegitimate child, suffers from the stigma surrounding her birth and the abuse she faces throughout her marriage. Laila, born a generation later, is comparatively privileged during her youth until their lives intersect and she is also forced to accept a marriage proposal from Rasheed, Mariam's husband."

His latest book is the best one: "And the Mountains Echoed".

Hosseini, Khaled "The Kite Runner"

Hosseini, Khaled "The Kite Runner" - 2003

This was not my first book about Afghanistan, I have read quite a few. But apart from "The Sewing Circles of Herat" which I still consider the best, this has been one of the more interesting ones. Even though it is not necessarily just about Afghanistan - or maybe just because of that - and it doesn't go on all the time about the Afghanistan during and after the Taliban, I thought this was very informative.

We discussed this in our international book club in October 2007.

Book Description:

"The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is 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.
A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic."

I did read other books later on that I liked even more, e.g.
Shakib, Siba "Nach Afghanistan kommt Gott nur noch zum Weinen" (Afghanistan, Where God Only Comes to Weep) - 2002
- "Samira und Samir" (Samira and Samir) - 2004

I also really really liked his next book "A Thousand Splendid Suns" - 2007
His latest book is the best one: "And the Mountains Echoed"- 2013

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2022.