Kite Runner

*SPOILERS AHEAD* -the quotes are all from the book and this review is based on the audio book read by the author.- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I only started the audio book yesterday and I couldn't turn it off until now because I finished it a few seconds ago. It is the first time I read a non-British or non-American novel and to tell the truth, I listened to the audio book without having high expectations since I knew this novel was a best seller and I like to stay away from best sellers because they are, most of the time, a disappointment. However, this is not the case. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini it is certainly the most delicious piece of literature I've had the pleasure to lay my eyes on (or listen to), an outstanding novel that will be remembered for many generations to come...it will always be in my mind and heart, to say the least. I have tears in my eyes right now and my heart is swelling with overflowing emotions. The suspense made my heart skip many times, but the ending left a satisfied smile plastered on my face and I don't know what else to say because my mind is busy remembering those precious and cherished times from the main character's past as if they were my own memories. I feel like I went to another world and lived Amir's life and came back to this life, wondering about my own life too. The kite runner was so good, so sad, so real. There were no perfect characters and no imperfect characters. They all were human, they were despicable, they were lovely. I read this book or I should say, I listened to this book like when I eat my favorite cake: I can't stopped eating it and the only most important thing in this world is that small moment of pleasure, nothing else matters. Many people were mad at the main character because they thought he was heartless or committed many mistakes. We have to keep in mind that Amir was only a kid longing for his father's love, so everything that mattered to him was to make his father to look at him as a dear son, this just shows us the huge impact a father/mother's treatment can make to their children's lives. Although Amir was only a kid, that's no excuse for the cruel things he did to his best friend, the ever so kind and gentle soul, Hassan. His love and loyalty towards Amir never wavered even though he knew about his betrayal and everything he's done. He always loved him unconditionally. Hassan was my favorite character, he reminded me of Petey from another great book "Map of the harbor Islands". I cried for Hassan as if he was my best friend, I even wished to meet him, to be greeted one day by a man with such a pure soul and gentle smile like his. I admit I was mad at Amir many times for the things he did or I should better say, for the things he didn't do for Hassan, like rescuing him from that horrible time..." on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975" ...I wasn't mad at the fact that he was afraid, he was only a kid so it's understandable but I was mad at how good he was at pretending he didn't know nothing afterwards or that he was worried more about the blue kite than about his friend's condition, or so I thought. I wondered many times how I would react in Amir's place...that's why I couldn't hate him like others do...because he was just human and humans have feelings. We are selfish sometimes, we feel jealousy and envy, we are cowards or at least have something we are afraid of, we lie, we steal, we hurt, we love. Life becomes beautiful where love is involved. I believe that we should live our lives in love with the world and the people in it and not waste our short life by hating and rejecting people just because they are different. This book dealt with many issues of hate, status, politics, religion, poverty, wars, sins, the importance of your bloodline but most importantly, the importance of redemption and love over everything else. "...there is a God, there always has been. I see him here, in the eyes of the people in this [hospital] corridor of desperation. This is the real house of God, this is where those who have lost God will find Him... there is a God, there has to be, and now I will pray, I will pray that He will forgive that I have neglected Him all of these years, forgive that I have betrayed, lied, and sinned with impunity only to turn to Him now in my hour of need. I pray that He is as merciful, benevolent, and gracious as His book says He is." Amir discovered later on that his life has been like a lie because his father kept a secret from everybody...this cost the suffering of many people, including himself. Amir also made many people suffer because of his lies and betrayal..."like father, like son" "But better to be hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie." Amir suffered for the things he did, his conscience didn't leave him alone during all his life. He physically and mentally grew up and changed from a selfish, afraid boy to a responsible, valiant man. I forgive him because I also love him. :) "A boy who won't stand up for himself becomes a man who can't stand up to anything." Let me quote another great character, Rahim(oh! another good thing is that all the characters here are important and we learn something from all of them): "A man who has no conscience, no goodness, does not suffer."... "Forgive yourself" He said this to Amir because Amir always thought of himself as unworthy, despicable, dirty, a sinner. "When guilt leads to good" Amir's guiltiness lead him to discover who he really was and what he really wanted. I love the fact that he risked his life to save Hassan's son as a way to redeem his sins, as a way to ask for forgiveness and he changed for him, suffered for him, felt for him. I was so sad for Hassan's son, Sohrab, just to think that many children has gone through the same things as him makes me shiver from terror. I'm afraid to say it has become my favorite book because The Count of Monte Cristo remained as my favorite book of all time for many years but now that I think about it, The Kite Runner is more realistic and touched me deeply on so many levels unlike the former which is a bit unrealistic but both novels are magnificently created for greatness. There was not a single time I felt bored or tired. It is not a short novel, thus I'm amazed that I finished it so fast, I wasn't even aware of it, for my mind was glued to the story. I will listen to it again and buy the book because I want to run my fingers through the pages and re-read my favorite parts. And as you can see, the top-notch writing was perfect and so was the unfolding of the story. The characters captivated me the most, though. And finally, I loved this small story written by little Amir: "That same night, I wrote my first short story. It took me thirty minutes. It was a dark little tale about a man who found a magic cup and learned that if he wept into the cup, his tears turned into pearls. But even though he had always been poor, he was a happy man and rarely shed a tear. So he found ways to make himself sad so that his tears could make him rich. As the pearls piled up, so did his greed grow. The story ended with the man sitting on a mountain of pearls, knife in hand, weeping helplessly into the cup with his beloved wife's slain body in his arms." I tell ya, this book is AMAZING!

The Kite Runner is riveting, and at times, it is heartrending to read. It is at once a bildungsroman story and a trauma narrative about a boy's growing pain uprooted by political turmoils in the cultural wonderland. A sort of Au revoir Les Enfantes-seque timbre is tinged in the narrative of a grown-up boy who wants to reconcile with the stupendous secrets becoming a malady of the heart. That is what Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan-American doctor turned to full-time writer, does in The Kite Runner, conjuring up the faces and scenes, resurrecting the spirits of the places and times, by putting together the tesserae of his memories in the mosaic of History. The book incorporates the sociological theory of symbolic interactionist perspective focused on the relationships among individuals within a society and how political changes affect the lives of individuals and the sense of who we are and our relationships to others. The story's narrator, a young Afghan boy of the upper-class named Amir Agha, gives the reader a ride to his childhood in Kabul to show the halcyon days of pre-soviet and Taliban reigned Afghanistan. First, you will see him and his best friend Hassan, a Hazara servant boy in his house, wallowing in reading stories and lost in kite flying. Then and thereafter, Hassan becomes a victim of the most horrific act committed by the half-German blue-eyed Afghan boy threatening him to win kite. Amir's retrospective narrative becomes his public confession and ablation, all of which is a combined act of purging out the painful memories of the past and exorcising his demons tormenting him with the guilt of jealousy, ignorance, and cowardice. The whole narrative then becomes a plethora of pathos and empathy, resulting in a cornucopia of forgiveness and sympathy, drifting it all in a high-flying kite once and for all. It is a fitting story in this particular time of Afghanistan history and Abdulrazak Gurnah's winning of 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature for his achievement of universalizing human travails transcendent of racial, cultural, and geographical differences. Vivacious at times but dolorous at most, the Kite Runner is synthetic literature that wears habiliments of memoir and novel. There truth and fiction dissolve into one another anchored in real life with factual geographical and historical facts smoothly amalgamated in the individual narrative account, which reminds me of Herodotus's "Histories." Or it is an alluringly pioneering memoir-making that resembles Realistic Fiction. For whatever it is, the Kite Runner bestrides the aisles of contemporary literature sections, alluring the public with simple language that magically juxtaposed in beautiful prose style with lyrical quality, all soul and mind in the marks upon pages evocative of the spirits of the memories materializing.

The guy who wrote it is a physician and the book is fiction. It would be interesting to know if it is at all autobiographical. I just looked up on the Internet: [...] Doesn't sound strictly autobiographical. Well, the guy can write good fiction--I can't believe this is his first book. This book has a great plot, great characterizations and it draws you in and keeps you hooked. One of the blurbs on the book said that this book haunted them for days afterward. I can understand that. It's about a boy who grows up in Afghanistan, with his father, a manservant and the servant's son. His mother passed away during childbirth and the servant's wife ran off. So the boy and the servant's son are good friends, but the servant and his son are Hazara, which I suspect is somewhat like being black in America. They are "less than". They are not educated, generally speaking, and are discriminated against. So the boys are friends when Amir, the main character, is home from school. But he would never really claim the Hazara boy, Hassan, as a friend in public. The book, roughly divided in thirds, would be like this: First third of the book: childhood and growing up in Afghanistan, second third of the book would be arriving in America and adjusting to American life and his much-changed relationship with his father as a result of their reduced circumstances in America and the last third of the book is about Amir's return trip to Afghanistan. His relationship with his father is troubled. It seems that he is not the boy that his father wanted or planned on. He can never fulfill his father's dreams and they have little in common. His father has a friend, Rahim Khan who visits and befriends the boy and gives him good advice. And he has his friendship with Hassan, the servant boy. But something tragic happens, which I won't tell here, which leaves Amir with lifelong guilt and self-hatred. It's not enough that his father hadn't loved him fully; he's now filled with self-loathing and trying to pretend that everything is okay in his world and keeping his shame all bottled up inside. His return to Afghanistan is a chance at redemption and is very action-packed and has many twists and turns. The book surprised me, often, which I really like. I have read so many books that to be surprised is, for me, the sign of a really creative author. I feel like if I say much else about the book, I really will ruin it. I will say that there is violence and tragedy-this is the Middle East we are talking about. But there are only a few incidents-it's not like the whole book is one bloody war because they basically leave when things start to fall apart. He comes back when the Taliban are in charge and his description of them, and their actions, are very enlightening. Their actions are not spiritual in any way that we would recognize-quite the opposite. But to see them depicted in fiction, and to hear Afghani characters despise them and what they have wrought on their country is good, I think. I believe that Afghan mothers want what mothers want world wide-for their kids to be healthy and have a chance at education and a happy life. And for the most part, few Afghans have that and I feel a deep sense of sorrow about that and my good fortune at being born in this country. That being said, the book is not deeply, horribly sad. It does have its sad parts, it does have its happy parts. It's a great tale written by an author who is very gifted. He writes very well, has a good tale and good characters. We've all read "coming of age" tales about Western boys (in school if nowhere else)-this is like an Afghan version of that. I would recommend this book and I would recommend starting it on a weekend where you'll have few interruptions.

At once dark and illuminating, contemporary and historical, opaque and transparent, The Kite Runner is a shimmering coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the last thirty years of Afghan history. Weaving a rich tapestry of literature using many brilliant and contrasting threads, Khaled Hosseini tells the complex tale of a young Afghan-American at conflict with both himself and his environment. The Kite Runner is most importantly about the cracks and fissures that inevitably develop in human relationships, whether between a boy and his stoic father, a young man and his new wife and eccentric in-laws, or a deeply troubled boy-man and his best friend. Indeed, human frailty is on full display in what is already regarded as a classic of contemporary Afghan-American literature. Clearly a gifted novelist, Hosseini both entertains and edifies in this his first major work. Excellent character development, vivid imagery, and a flowing, unrestrained style characterize the author's impressive literary debut. He infuses his characters with such passion, his scenes and dialogue with such feeling, and his story with so many twists and turns. Just as surely as we experience Hosseini's considerable gifts as a writer, though, we struggle to warm up to The Kite Runner's deeply flawed narrator, Amir. Early in Amir's recounting of the events that shape his life, we learn that he suffers from many of the same insecurities we all experience while growing into adulthood. During his early years in Kabul he struggles to gain his larger-than-life father's affection. In Amir's mind, he never quite measures up to his father's lofty expectations. Instead, his 'Baba' remains cold and distant, and only when Amir wins a sort of aerial combat with kites known as 'kite running' - a custom in the wealthier Kabul suburbs we learn - does Amir finally gain his father's approval. In the process, though, Amir betrays his best friend (and servant), Hassan, and remains stubbornly at war with himself. Hassan, perhaps the most striking of Hosseini's characters, embodies the many qualities and attributes Amir admires. A warm, gentle soul without an ounce of guile, Hassan repeatedly demonstrates his loyalty to his Agha (master), Amir. While valuing his companionship, Amir secretly resents Hassan's innocence and the way in which he seemingly glides through life while easily earning praise from Baba. Amir rewards Hassan's unflinching commitment by treating him at times as a brother and at times as a rival. Amir subjects Hassan to a kind of benign cruelty, one moment manipulating him, the next offering him his love. Interestingly, by birth Hassan is relegated to the lower tier of Afghanistan's caste system. The product of a sexual liaison between Baba and a peasant woman, Hassan is born hare-lipped and poor - two strikes in a rigid, intolerant Afghan society. Yet, he is infinitely rich in so many ways. Hosseini imbues Hassan with those qualities that make the Afghan people great - strength, pride, and resiliency. Indeed, the remainder of Hassan's short life in Afghanistan and subsequently in Pakistan parallels the fall of a proud society of Afghan people - first to the Soviets in the 1980s and then to the Taliban in the 1990s. By contrast, Hosseini's Amir is a study in contradictions. While Amir persists in reminding Hassan of his low station in Afghan society, he helps him learn to read and write. Nevertheless, throughout the story the two remain true to the Cain and Abel roles to which Hosseini assigns them. Amir eventually leaves Hassan to a brutal assault at the hands of the Faustian Assef. He then enters his adulthood regretting this betrayal of the one individual whose love for him was unconditional. The Kite Runner is first and foremost a story of redemption... of a boy's becoming a man, recognizing only once it is lost all he had in a unique sibling relationship. Amir ultimately atones for his youthful failings. By saving Sohrab, Hassan's son, from Assef and then the hopelessness of life in a Pakistani orphanage, Amir eventually rewards Hassan for his loyalty, sacrifice and love. Amir eventually adopts Sohrab, and the circle is complete. Sohrab will ultimately enjoy the many privileges that his father was denied both by Amir and an unforgiving Afghan society. Hosseini crafts a beautiful story, both entertaining and instructive. Through the dual lens of Afghan politics and the experiences of an extended Afghan family we learn so much about the Aghan people and their heritage. In this masterpiece, the reader is taken on a magical journey from Afghanistan to America (and back). Since as a nation we remain deeply invested in Afghanistan, the author's timing could not have been better. Indeed, Hosseini helps us gain an appreciation for this remote country and its culture during yet another turbulent period in its modern history. A superb first novel! We can only wonder what this magnificent author will do for an encore...

I don't know why I have waited so long to read this book but, having finished it in one sitting, I know I haven't only read an amazing novel, but had an emotional experience like no other. The Kite Runner tells the story of two young Afghani men who live in Kabul in quite different circumstances. One, Amir, through whose eyes the story is told, is wealthy, educated and privileged, his father being a strong, athletic and ethical man who wields power and earns respect. The other, Hassan, is the son of one of Amir's father's beloved servants and comes from a different ethnic group, the Hazara. Despite the differences in their social status, the boys were not only fed from the same wet-nurse’s breast (their mothers dying when they were newborns), but grow up together, sharing significant moments, triumphs and failures while also being eternally divided by their social status and ethnicity. The first half of the book focuses on their childhood and adolescence and the chapters are simply exquisite in their observations, the raw honesty with which personal flaws are described and acknowledged, and the simplicity as well as complexity of Hassan and Amir's relationship. This complexity becomes more evident as they grow older and, on Amir's side at least, jealousy erupts. Reading this section is like inhaling a flower's perfume and becoming giddy with the fragrance... Yet, you know it can't last. Already, as you revel in the joy of kite flying and running, for example, you know the seeds of destruction, of innocence lost, have been sewn. So you relish every moment in ways Amir especially does not and cannot. After all, what child can understand the consequences of their actions - even when they know they are wrong? This is something the book explores in detail - how what we do in a rash moment, even when we know it is morally, ethically wrong, disloyal, foolish or a betrayal, can set in motion consequences that reverberate for decades. Against a backdrop of invasion and pending war, and as more characters enter their universe, the magical, insular world the boys inhabit begins to dissolve. But no one could foresee what was to happen... The second half of the book shows how the actions - both on the page and off stage - impact upon the present. Heart-wrenching, moving, lyrical and lovely, providing insights into the hearts and minds of a different culture and faith, this sweeping story of generations, masculinity, femininity, war, liberation, immigration, refugees, is epic in scope and elegiac in execution. The prose is sublime. Phrases and descriptions linger in the mind, trip off your tongue as you have to say them aloud. Who thinks to describe a sky as a 'blameless blue'? Yet, I saw it, felt it, stood beneath it - or rain as 'melting silver' (that makes me sigh), such is the power of Hosseini's prose. At no point is the plot predictable and sometimes the twists and turns are shocking, a punch to the stomach, a catching of breath so sharp it hurts, yet you keep reading, you cannot stop. Exquisitely told, The Kite Runner is a magnificent novel by such a gifted story-teller whose insights and humanity leap off the pages and whose imagination, like the kites Amir and Hassan fly, soars.

This first novel, from an Afghanistan immigrant, feels like a memoir. I had to wonder how much of it was fiction, and how much came from Hosseni's own life, particulary the early passages. Either way, it is a stirring work and a wonderfully fast and engrossing read. It tells the story of Amir, the only son of a rich Kabul businessman. It starts with recollections of Amir as a young teen, living in thriving Afghanistan prior to the Soviet invasion. Life is pretty good. Amir's best friend is the son of his father's manservant, and the two are VERY close friends...yet because of differences in class and religion, Amir can't really "go public" with their friendship. He still has to treat his friend like a servant when out in public...yet the friend adores him almost abjectly. It's a beautifully rendered frienship, and the prose is also very evocative of the time and place. Amir's father, Babi, is a complex character, and we see him clearly through a child's eyes (and as Amir ages, our understanding of his father changes too, in the way an adult would view a parent differently...nicely done). About a third of the way through the book, Amir betrays his friend...first in a way that is terrible yet understandable. But, rather than make amends, Amir betrays his friend again. The guilt of this betrayal haunts Amir for the rest of his life, and we see very clearly how a person's entire life...his relationships with others, his character, his major choices in life...are all tainted by the guilt. Later, the books shows the coming of the Soviets, the escape to America of Amir and his father, and his gradual and very believable integration into American society. Some of the passages where we see how the once proud father is both humbled and enobeled by his collapse of circumstances is pretty amazing stuff. These are the kinds of immigrants that we need in the US..and Hosseini makes us believe that his people are that kind of immigrant. Still later, Amir returns to his country, now under the rule of the Taliban. I won't tell you WHY he goes back...except to say that some of his old debts finally call to him for repayment. This is where the book gets a little dicey. The plot developments are highly unlikely and full of coincidences that in many ways are a cheat. The only reason it remains entertaining is because the author has given us such a store of caring for the characters that we just go with it. Had the characters been built with less care, the final portions of the book would be laughably cliched. Fortunately for the reader, they are actually touching,involving and satisfying in many ways. I was aware that I was being force to swallow one unlikely event after another...but I also decided early on that I was OK with it. The book will bring you to tears many times. Parts are heartbreaking. You'll grow very frustrated with many of the characters. But you'll NEVER be bored and you'll never have a problem following the big themes of the book. It aspires to be "literature," but it's so swiftly paced, so carefully observed, and written in such clear, unflowery prose that you'll simply get pulled right in. (Going in to this book, I was worried that it might be overly political...considering our ongoing war in Afghanistan. But other than one very strange, cheap shot at the Reagan administration...it does not wear its politics on its sleeve. Frankly, it convinced me more than ever that we need to stay in Afghanistan and get this proud but frustrating country headed in the right direction.)

This is a stunning novel, even more so considering it is the author's first. Hosseini delivers a story that is so poignant that it was sometimes hard to continue reading. My eyes were brimming for a good many of the book's 300+ pages. It reads as though it could be someone's memoirs - not the creation of the author's imagination - so real and compelling is the tale woven for us. Had someone told me even a few weeks ago that a novel about childhood friends in Afghanistan - with a culture so unlike my own - would find a place among my "Top 10," I would have scoffed. This is simply not a book that would have compelled me to read it based on its liner notes, its subject matter, or its cover. How glad I am that I heeded the suggestion of a friend, moved outside my comfort zone, and added this to my reading list. It's also worth pointing out that I was quite clueless about the popular acclaim of this book, so I'm innocent of the charges of succombing to the madness of crowds and liking this book simply because I'm "supposed" to like it. I liked it because it garnered my five stars the old-fashioned way: it earned them. In "The Kite Runner" we're given the story of Amir and Hassan. Amir, the son of a wealthy and respected Afghan businessman, lives a life of privilege and is a Sunni Muslim. He goes to school. He is looked up to by his society. He lives in a veritable mansion by Afghan standards. He wants for nothing except for his father to be proud of him. In contrast, Hassan is a servant - a servant in Amir's household. Hassan is poor, is not allowed to go to school, and lives in a hut. He is a Shi'a (Shiite) Muslim and is looked down upon by his surrounding society. But in spite of so many differences, the boys are inseparable friends - until a horrifying incident forces Amir to either defend his friend or betray him. The book centers on that pivotal moment when Amir must choose loyalty or betrayal, courage or cowardice, selfishness of selflessness - and how his choice affects the remainder of both boy's lives. A lesser author would have made this a sappy story, but Hosseini tells it masterfully, in the complexities and nuances of emotion experienced by Amir, in the depressing reality of pre- and post-Taliban Afghanistan, and in the experiences of adopting to life in a land not your own while wishing the clock could be turned back. He also gives us the world as viewed not through Muslim extremist eyes, but simply Muslim eyes, and I suspect that view reflects the majority of Afghani people, both in their own country and in America. I think many will find this story moving because they will see glimpses of themselves in both Amir and Hassan. To miss ourselves in these two characters is to miss the beauty of what Hosseini has given us here. To say more would be to spoil this wonderfully moving and well-told story, so I'll refrain and simply urge you to read it for yourself. You will not be disappointed.

The Kite Runner is a book that I debated reading for a far longer time than it took me to actually read it. The book was so wildly popular, especially among book clubs and other clusters of bibliophiles, that I had little choice but to give it attention. Many times as I would peruse the shelves at the bookstore I would see The Kite Runner. Each time this happened I would pick up a copy and hold it in my hands. I would read the back of the book, which displays a synopsis provided from a review rather than from the publisher, and really try the book on. What I found each time was that it did not fit, if I may continue the metaphor. It was at the advice of two readers I know that I finally bought a copy of The Kite Runner. They both, on separate occassions, heard what I detailed above about how the book and I seemed to have creative differences; "it does not sound like a book I would enjoy," I told them both. "Read it. I did for my book club and really enjoyed it," was what they both said in reply. And so I did. I found the synopsis, which talks so much of the power struggle between Russia and Afghanistan and then the portrait of the current state of affairs in Afghanistan to be irrelevant through the first half of the book. I had been worried about the synopsis because I have not met a book that talks of political conflict that I have enjoyed. I read to be entertained by something a little...lighter than the subject of politics. You may think me odd for that, or you may agree, at least in part. That which had me concerned was presented in a manner secondary to the story. The conflict was the setting of the book, not the subject. The subject is and always was Amir, a boy with whom we see the years pass after he makes his way to America. He struggles to leave his past behind while other immigrants around him pay particular attention so as to not lose theirs. It may not be as easy as he had hoped to start over in America. Much in the same way the two who had recommended the book to me had created a situation in which they felt somewhat obligated to read the book (their respective book clubs), I manufactured a similar reason for myself. Having now read The Kite Runner I feel comfortable suggesting it to others, though you need not make up an excuse to read it. read it because you are in search of a story that will, among other things, grip your heart and soul, squeezing a little at times, while you read. Read it because it educates in the ways of another culture, deserving as they all do, to be recognized. Read it because you want to know what past Amir wants to leave behind when he comes to America and if he is finally able to do just that. I cannot say that The Kite Runner is to be raved about, but it is a beautiful story that made for a good read. I was pleasantly surprised by The Kite Runner. Despite the popularity of the book, I still consider it a diamond in the rough, when the rough is endless shelves at the bookstore. The Kite Runner is a relatively short book and a quick read. I hope you enjoy it. I think you will.

It’s a very good novel. It was an amazing book to read. Now I wish I could read it for the first time again. It had so many interesting scenes and many heart breaking moments. Perfect.

It’s a nice book, and the quality is decent. I was a bit worried after reading reviews about missing pages, but mine arrived in perfect condition. Just keep in mind that it’s a pocket-sized book, so the font is expectedly small.

One of the best books I've ever read. It was a delightful experience. Although it is a book of fiction, it seems autobiographical, contemplating all the sensibility of whose know how to deal with some of the most sensitive human issues. It contains a so wide repertoire of terms and expressions that delight the reader. It catches the reader's attention from beginning to end. 'Wonderful' is a good word to describe him.

I finished reading “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini a book chosen by our Book Club in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Concurrently I have just read two novels by Zia Ahmad , “Finding Danyal - A love Story” and “The One Hundred.” I recommend these wonderful story experiences equally as good as "The Kite Runner" A most gratifying reading marathon of these three novels likened to my typical Netflix series binging where I resist ear marking the last page from being so engrossed in finding out what next. Especially during the fast pace of the disturbing scenes of conflict, torture and meanness inflicted on the principal characters contained in all three novels. I grew up with the influx of Pakistani refugees arriving in Toronto Canada in the early 60s, but I did not know anything of why or the scope of their plight or struggles. Zia Ahmad’s writing has inspired me to know more of political devastating disparities of the Anglo Afghanistan wars and Russian penetration. I must say reading these three books one after the other has heaped my head blending, overlapping each story’s’ similar conflicts, betrayals, and flirting friendships to the point of having difficulty keeping them distinct each to its own. Nevertheless, here at my desk writing, recalling, fiddling with the scenes they individually start to filter through. “Finding Danyal”, it was clear from first reading Zia Ahmad’s second published novel that yes, it is a love story. I cried at the end. An indication I felt the emotions the storyteller crafted. Characters evolve from plot twists and disturbing betrayals showing us a controversial unescapable gay love story. All at odds within religious and oppressive constraints of the Arab world in Lahore Pakistan. I relate to Zia’s writing. My own experience discovering love took place in Canada, a different supposedly more tolerant world. But I too struggled with self-identity and societal acceptance confronting the turbulences of coming of age as a gay man. The ending “Finding Danyal” was read causing a feel-good sensation still with me. “The One Hundred”, Zia Ahmad’s first published novel is a different story exposing a historical tragedy in such a way achieving Zia Ahmad’s objective of memorializing the one hundred victims showing a world tolerance and acceptance are human qualities we should honor. But the frantic pace of the scenes with violence, bullying, beating the characters to a pulp was frightening, very real, virtually wanting to cover my eyes. A challenge to read calmly. High drama ending in a tale to be told one “hundred times”. I can see where Zia Ahmad utilized this background to write his second novel “Finding Danyal” with a theme of love. “The Kite Runner”, chosen by our Book club which I read after those of Zia Ahmad. Another reading challenge to cope with the violence, the class conflicts, a brutal rape of a boy, the “running away” of Amir the protagonist, the contrast of righteous Hasan and Amir’s cowardice, test of loyalty and trust, the Taliban cruel enforcement, intense control throughout the story resulting in the blood bath of the Hazaras, - but redemption is achieved when Amir becomes in the end the kite runner. Many plot twists and surprises lead to an unexpected ending far from the outset of the principal characters. I can see why Zia Ahmad studied this book in preparation for his own writing. If you have enjoyed reading “The Kite Runner, I recommend you read Zia Ahmad’s two novels, “Finding Danyal- A love Story” and “The One Hundred”. Both authors equally provide an emotionally haunting, thought-provoking thrilling story experience producing as forceful a message of what it means to be human. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Zia Ahmad’s two novels He is an impressive competent talented writer with engaging story telling style and showing descriptive flow. I truly believe “Finding Danyal” is worthy of a Netflix movie. It is comparable if not better than some I have watched. Well done, Zia Ahmad!

It's a pity in Japan both this book and the movie are not so popular! I understand because I myself was not quite interested even after I happened to read his second novel, but it turned out to be unputdownable! This book was definitely more heart moving than the second book. I just assume how many scenes should be based on his real experience revealing his mixed feeling about his homeland full of sweet and sour memories. And I really want to read it's sequel!