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 enlarge | Author: Khaled Hosseini
Publisher: Doubleday Canada Ltd
Category: Book
Buy Collectible: $124.99
Used (4) Collectible (1) from $124.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  2517 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0
ISBN: 0385660065
EAN: 9780385660068
ASIN: 0385660065
Publication Date: June 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: First Canadian ed--complete number line; Some minor dust jacket scuffing, otherwise in great condition, sharp pages, tight spine.
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| Customer Reviews:
 I now look at news of Afghanistan with much more compassion February 10, 2004
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Although some parts were predictable (and if you're an avid reader, it's rare you find a book that isn't), this book brought much needed human insight to the whole Afghanistan saga. I look forward to Mr. Hosseini's future books. Overall, this was sad, wonderful, uplifting, hopeful...you get the idea.
Read this book! February 9, 2004
I just finished Kite Runner and can honestly say it ranks among the finest books I have ever had the pleasure to read. Do yourself a favor and get your hands on this book. It is truly a masterpiece!
Inspiring novel of immeasurable importance February 8, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I had never heard of Kite Runner until a co-worker bought a copy and GAVE it to me. I read it in one sitting and bought as many copies as possible to give to my friends and family. There are scenes in this story that are incredibly hard to read, but I could not bear to put it down; I stayed up all night to finish. All I can say is that in Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini has written a story that will impact my life for a long time to come.
Surprisingly good February 4, 2004
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
An tale of very strong ethnicity, of a weak son and heroic father and how the son tries to come to terms with 'failure' in the father's eyes. The original English version must be extremely good because I read the German translation (given to me by my wife as a gift) and found it to be first rate. I wonder how much of the book is autobiographical. One gets the author's view of Afghan society, as well as interesting facts that are independent of the author's viewpoint. We learn, e.g., that Farsi (Dari) is the official language, and that the Pushtun have more or less enslaved the Hazara as uneducated servants. Terrible racism and brutality are portrayed. Extreme brutality occured seldom, but when it did I felt it in my stomach. The role of women? Only there to serve the men, when seen at all. The author's opinion is that the Taliban is worst than were the communists, which is believeable. Under the mullacracie there was the regression from servanthood and brutality to murder and massacre. Khaled writes that the Talib "rats" went back into their holes after US troops arrived, but there are many fundamentalists and they are still operating too freely from their nests all over the world. On my wall hangs a newspaper picture from Fall, 2001, of some American Special Forces troops riding on horseback along with members of The Northern Alliance in the mountains. I hope that the photo reflects truth, that it was not 'cooked' like so much else under the Bush Administration.Novelists should take extreme care (following Hemingway in "A Farewell to Arms". e.g.), to be historically and geographically accurate, because their work has greater effect than the history texts in forming peoples' opinions of other places and cultures. For more on Afghanistan under the Taliban mullacracie, see www.satp.org/satporgtp/usa/Taliban.htm. I haven't yet read Aasne Seierstad's "Bokhandleren i Kabul", which provides an account of her travels with The Northern Alliance, but more importantly an inside view of the lives of women in traditional Islamic society, a view that would have been inaccessible to a male journalist. For a very sympathetic inside picture of Afghan warriors and the Afghan peoples generally, seen through English eyes, read "An Unexpected Light". Beautiful photos of the wildest region can be seen on http://www.pashto.org/gallery/. The portrayal of people and place in "The Kite Runner" is so strong that this book may stay with you after you finish it. One lives parallel to Amir, Hassan, their fathers and others in the story. And one begins to become informed about Afghanistan.
Awesome Achievement February 4, 2004
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was the first book I read in 2004 and it will certainly be a hard act to follow! What a magnificent achievement for a first-time novelist. I was especially astonished to read that Hosseini only visited Afghanistan as an adult AFTER he wrote this book! It read like a memoir, the writing was so genuine and personal.I learned so much about Afghanistan and its people, their struggles and heartbreaks, and the horrors they have endured. This book was a real eye-opener for me and I hope to read more about this strife-ridden country. The themes of betrayal, forgiveness, courage, cowardice, retribution, and redemption are woven throughout the narrative. As the book cover says, it is an epic story. I will not write a synpopsis as so many others have done it already...and probably better than I could! But I will recommend this amazing book without reservation. I cannot count how many people to whom I have already sung the praises of "The Kite Runner".
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