I have just finished this book. The first novel by Hosseini, an Afghan-American doctor, had me in tears at times.
It's the story of two young boys, the son of a wealthy man and the son of the servant, growing up in Afghanistan before the revolution and the invasion by the Russians.
A tragic event rips their friendship apart. Our protangonist, Amir, is a complex person and cowardly at times. We follow him as he adjusts to life in America. Despite being thousands of miles away from "home", he can never forget what happened to his friend and his guilt continued to eat away at him.
It was interesting to read about Afghanistan during this time period (late 1960s to 2002). The politics in this part of the world are very complicated and reading about the invasion, the Taliban and the neighboring countries in this context offered some insight into a world most have never visited.
As a first generation American I was also moved by his POV of what it was like to be a person of color moving to this country.
6 comments:
Have you read "A Thousand Splendid Suns"? I liked it even better than The Kite Runner.
Shelley - it's on my list to read. One of my co-workers has been listening to it on tape and comes into the office in tears every morning.
I'll have to read this one too. Thanks for the review.
rose - you are welcome. enjoy
I'll add it to my 'to read' list. I'd really like to get an Afghan's POV on the politics.
wordtryst - let me know what you think.
Post a Comment