The Kite Runner

I really love the book "Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. It's one of the books that can really move me and felt very closed to the characters. I was simply unable to put it down. The author really knows how to tell story, put it together piece and puzzle, and represent it in a very comprehensive writing, using first-person narratives.

It's a story about friendship and redemption. Two boys (Amir and Hassan) grown up in Afghanistan, when the land is is still peaceful. They're bonded together as friends, although one is a wealthy family son, and other is the family servant son. Before the war torn apart the country, the two of them are already separated by horrible incident and betrayal, and might not be able to see each other anymore.

After reading the book, I look forward to watching the movie. However, since it's not released island wide here, I somehow failed to catch the movie in cinema, until recently I am able to get the DVD. It's actually a very good movie with a superb cinematography. I love the scene with the kites flying in the sky, beautiful. The movie itself follows closely what happens in the book. Although it's quite difficult to put it together all detail in the book, the movie can somehow capture the emotion of the book, especially in the first part of the movie. But, through the second part of the movie till the end, the movie seems a bit too rush and some main story near the conclusion of the story is cut. (Spoiler ahead, stop reading if you intend to read the book or watch the movie). In the book, Amir was hurt badly by Assef, and hospitalized in Afghanistan/Pakistan. It's told how Sohrab (son of Hassan) has a transition phase of accepting Amir to his life. Being traumatized of his parents' murder and being raped, Sohrab slowly accepts Amir to his life. However, as there's problem of Amir bringing small child to US, Amir plans to go back first to settle all the procedure. Accidentally, Sohrab heard that Amir will leave him, which causes Sohrab to get scared and unable to accept Amir anymore.

There is one phrase that sets me chilled while reading the book or watching the movie, "For you, a thousand times over". This might be better tagline than "There's way to be good again", however, it might be meaningless and less marketable for the ones that haven't read the book. If you like this book, I recommend to read the next book by the same author , "A Thousand of Splendid Sun", which tells the story of Mariam and Laila, two girls from different generation, brought together by a sad incident. The novel is split into four parts of the story. It's very well written with a very sad and convincing story, although the story felt a bit depressing.