Very few novels I have read in recent months have created a deep sense of immense tragedy and unfathomable happiness. The Kite Runner by Afghan novelist Khaled Hosseini is one of them. The story unfolds the archetypal theme of the cycle of betrayal, guilt and final atonement/redemption. The story is narrated as a flashback of events beginning from the winter of 1975 and ending in March 2002. The backdrop of tumultous developments in Afghanistan beginning with the Soviet invasion followed by the war against the invaders by the Mujahideen, subsequent civil war and the Taliban rule gives poignancy to the story of Amir, his Baba (dad), his childhood friend Hassan, who is son of his father's household servant and who, as Amir discovers later, is illegitimate son of his Baba.
Baba betrays his Hazara servant Ali by denying him the honour that every Afghan upholds, and Hassan and Amir by denying their right to know the truth (that Hassan is his son). His redemption comes when he leaves for the U.S. and stays in San Fransisco for his son. He abandons for his son's well being his tradition, his friends and everything he values back home.
Amir betryas his friend Hassan by not admitting him as a true friend. For a Pashtun like Amir, Hassan is always an illiterate servant who can be fooled and ridiculed. Amir's redemption begins when he starts a journey back to his childhood and to Afghanistan that is by then under the Taliban control. He faces the risk to rescue Sohrab, son of Hassan who has been killed by the Taliban, and brings him to the U.S.
At a larger level, the novel is an allegory of the collective guilt of Afghanistan as a nation (watan) for the tragedy it has experienced since the Soviet invasion. The novel ends with the reassurance that `there is a way to be good again'.
I immensely enjoyed the novel which is also about relationship between father and son.
Baba betrays his Hazara servant Ali by denying him the honour that every Afghan upholds, and Hassan and Amir by denying their right to know the truth (that Hassan is his son). His redemption comes when he leaves for the U.S. and stays in San Fransisco for his son. He abandons for his son's well being his tradition, his friends and everything he values back home.
Amir betryas his friend Hassan by not admitting him as a true friend. For a Pashtun like Amir, Hassan is always an illiterate servant who can be fooled and ridiculed. Amir's redemption begins when he starts a journey back to his childhood and to Afghanistan that is by then under the Taliban control. He faces the risk to rescue Sohrab, son of Hassan who has been killed by the Taliban, and brings him to the U.S.
At a larger level, the novel is an allegory of the collective guilt of Afghanistan as a nation (watan) for the tragedy it has experienced since the Soviet invasion. The novel ends with the reassurance that `there is a way to be good again'.
I immensely enjoyed the novel which is also about relationship between father and son.
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