A few months ago, my friend and classmate Sarah gave me a book she considered “awesome”. Being overwhelmed by the bulky books I had to read for my studies, I put Sarah’s book in the bookcase hoping that one day I find the right time to read it. That day came three days ago when I decided to spend the Easter break reading it.
The book Sarah gave me is called The Kite Runner, a stunning novel written by Kahled Hosseini, an Afghan–American novelist and physician. I took the book from the bookcase and hesitated for a minute. Do I want to read something that makes me feel sadder than I am now? Hmm?! Finally, I made up my mind. What the hell, I said. It wouldn’t be worse than what is happening to my family now. But I was wrong.
The Kite Runner follows a story of a young boy, Amir who faces the challenges that confront him on the path to manhood. Living in Afghanistan in the 1960s, Amir enjoys a life of privilege that is shaped by his brotherly friendship with Hassan, his servant's son. Amir is haunted by the guilt of betraying his childhood friend Hassan, the son of his father's Hazara servant. The story is set against a flashback of chaotic events, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the Taliban regime.
As I was reading the story, I could see how things in Iraq are going as bad as what happened in Afghanistan where people lived in peace for a long time before Russia invaded their country, followed by Taliban regime taking over not only the entire country, but the lives of the innocent people. In one scene [no spoilers], Amir goes back to Afghanistan after spending a long time in the United States. His mind flies back with a series of flashbacks about how Kabul used to be beautiful and how now it’s nothing but a spot of poverty and dust created by the worst totalitarian regime the country had ever witnessed. Amir’s words are stuck in my mind even though I already thought about them when I bid Baghdad the last farewell. With both eyes wet, I recall looking from the airplane window thinking what this war might do more to hurt Baghdad? By the time I was there, Baghdad was almost dead. Today, it’s officially dead. I looked and wondered about how the extremists are doing what they started in Afghanistan. Maybe they were better there because they have Sunnis only. Baghdad is being destroyed by Sunni and Shiite extremists. One of the characters mentions that Afghani people were happy when the Taliban men came after they liberated the country from the Russians. But these Afghanis were let down when these same liberators turned against them and destroyed most, if not all, aspects of life. I looked back to the elections and how people in my country were happy and optimistic in going to the polling centers voting for their new leaders. I stopped reading for a minute and thought how these same voters were let down by those whom they voted for.
Although the story is fictional, it was derived from real stories and incidents with specific setting. There were so many details and incredible description of how people there went through all these years. Lives of Afghani individuals were well written and described in a way that the reader finishes the book without questions of who’s who.
So, if you are interested in reading such kinds of books, I really advise you to read it and enjoy the beauty of Hosseini’s writing style and talent in molding historical events with fiction.
