The Kite Runner details from bookadda
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Traces the unlikely friendship of Amir, a wealthy Afghanistani youth, and a servant's son, in a tale that spans the final days of the nation's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day.
Editorial Reviews
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers"I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975." So begins
The Kite Runner, a poignant tale of two motherless boys growing up in Kabul, a city teetering on the brink of destruction at the dawn of the Soviet invasion. Despite their class differences, Amir, the son of a wealthy businessman, and Hassan, his devoted sidekick and the son of Amir's household servant, play together, cause mischief together, and compete in the annual kite-fighting tournament -- Amir flying the kite, and Hassan running down the kites they fell. But one day, Amir betrays Hassan, and his betrayal grows increasingly devastating as their tale continues. Amir will spend much of his life coming to terms with his initial and subsequent acts of cowardice, and finally seek to make reparations. Hosseini's depiction of the cruelty children suffer at the hands of their "friends" will break your heart. And his descriptions of Afghanistan both before and after the war will haunt readers long after they've read the last page.
The Kite Runner is a stunning reminder that the dark hearts of adults are made, step-by-step, by the hatred they learn as children, and that all it takes for evil to triumph is for a good man to stand back and do nothing. (
Summer 2003 Selection)
About The Author:
On Christmas Day in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, securing Kabul within two days and remaining for a nine-year war with anti-government insurgents. During the time of the initial invasion, Afghani born Khaled Hosseini was living in Paris, France, where his father worked at a diplomatic post at the Afghan Embassy. When Hosseini and his family returned to their home country in 1980, they found the landscape violently changed and found themselves in need of political asylum in the United States.
As he grew older, Hosseini feared the Afghanistan that existed prior to the Soviet war and the subsequent rise of the Taliban would be forgotten forever. Even as he reached great levels of success as a practicing internist in California two decades after last having been to Afghanistan, he never forgot his roots. So, rising at 4AM every morning before beginning his medical shift, Hosseini began writing a story that not only captured the unsullied Afghanistan of his youth but also...
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Name:Khaled Hosseini
Current Home:Sunnyvale, California
Date of Birth:March 4, 1965
Place of Birth:Kabul, Afghanistan
Education:B.S. in biology, Santa Clara University, 1988; M.D., UC San Diego School of Medicine, 1993
Awards:The Kite Runner named a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, 2003
* Khaled Hosseini's official web site
Biography
On Christmas Day in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, securing Kabul within two days and remaining for a nine-year war with anti-government insurgents. During the time of the initial invasion, Afghani born Khaled Hosseini was living in Paris, France, where his father worked at a diplomatic post at the Afghan Embassy. When Hosseini and his family returned to their home country in 1980, they found the landscape violently changed and found themselves in need of political asylum in the United States.
As he grew older, Hosseini feared the Afghanistan that existed prior to the Soviet war and the subsequent rise of the Taliban would be forgotten forever. Even as he reached great levels of success as a practicing internist in California two decades after last having been to Afghanistan, he never forgot his roots. So, rising at 4AM every morning before beginning his medical shift, Hosseini began writing a story that not only captured the unsullied Afghanistan of his youth but also tracked its ensuing downfall. "I wanted to write about Afghanistan before the Soviet war because that is largely a forgotten period in modern Afghan history," he told Newsline.com. "For many people in the west, Afghanistan is synonymous with the Soviet war and the Taliban. I wanted to remind people that Afghans had managed to live in peaceful anonymity for decades, that the history of the Afghans in the 20th century has been largely pacific and harmonious."
The novel that resulted from Hosseini's early morning writing sessions was The Kite Runner, a heart-rending tale about two Afghan boys, best friends pulled apart by personal betrayal and the immense upheaval of war. Drawing raves from a long list of publications, this 2003 debut went on to become an international hit. Four years later, Hosseini delivered A Thousand Splendid Suns, an emotionally resonant crowd-pleaser focused on the plight of oppressed Afghan women before and during the rise of the Taliban.
In 2003, Hosseini revisited the place of his birth for the first time in nearly 27 years. "I returned to Afghanistan because I had a deep longing to see for myself how people lived, what they thought of their government, how optimistic they were about the future of their homeland," he said. "I was overwhelmed with the kindness of people and found that they had managed to retain their dignity, their pride, and their hospitality under unspeakably bleak conditions." In Hosseini's gripping novels, their voices rise strong and clear above the clash of violence.
Good To Know
During his years in the U.S., Hosseini has soaked in more than his share of American culture. He professes to be a fan of such U.S. institutions as the music of Bruce Springsteen and football. Still, he admits that he simply cannot appreciate baseball, saying, "I think that to fully appreciate baseball, it helps to have been born in the U.S."
When it comes to chickens, Hosseini is a chicken. "I'm terrified of chickens," the writer confesses. "Absolutely petrified. This intense and irrational fear is, I believe, caused by the memory of a black hen we owned in Kabul when I was a child. She used to peck her own chicks to death as soon as the eggs hatched."
When Hosseini isn't writing or tending to one of his patients, he enjoys games of no-limits Texas hold 'em poker with his brother and friends.
Feature Interviews
In the spring of 2004, Khaled Hosseini took some time out to talk with us about some of his favorite books, authors, and interests.
What was the book that most influenced your life or your career as a writer?
I remember reading The Grapes of Wrath in high school in 1983. My family had immigrated to the U.S. three years before, and I had spent the better part of the first two years learning English. John Steinbeck's book was the first book I read in English where I had an "Aha!" moment, namely in the famed turtle chapter. For some reason, I identified with the disenfranchised farm workers in that novel -- I suppose in one sense, they reminded me of my own country's traumatized people. And indeed, when I went back to Afghanistan in 2003, I met people with tremendous pride and dignity under some very bleak conditions; I suspect I met a few Ma Joads and Tom Joads in Kabul.
What are your ten favorite books, and what makes them special to you?
In no particular order:
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