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The Kite Runner (Audio CD)
by Khaled Hosseini
| Category:
Friendship, Afghanistan, Fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 418.00
MSL price:
¥ 388.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
It is a well-told powerfully story of devotion, loyalty, betrayal and redemption between two boys; one is the son of a wealthy Afghan businessman, and the other is the son of a poor servant. |
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Author: Khaled Hosseini
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition
Pub. in: February, 2005
ISBN: 0743545230
Pages:
Measurements: 6 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BB00046
Other information: Reprint edition
ISBN-13: 978-0743545235
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- Awards & Credential -
#1 New York Times Bestseller |
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- MSL Picks -
Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner is a good book. It tells a very compelling story of Amir, a 12-year-old Afghan boy who does nothing when his friend Hassan is savagely attacked. Amir is then haunted by his decision to not help Hassan for the next 26 years until he finally gets a chance to try and redeem himself.
Starting with Amir, the central characters in the story are interesting and complex. Readers will quickly begin to care about what happens to them, even if they are not sure if they like them. The bond that readers will create with the characters in the first half of the book, coupled with a great plot twist that is completely unexpected but also perfectly logical, will actually allow readers to forgive a few questionable coincidences in the second half of the story. Another very good aspect of the book is the elaborate description the book gives of life in Afghanistan from about the early 1970s to just after 9/11. The story also gives the reader insight to Afghan-American culture.
Of course what really makes The Kite Runner worth reading is that it goes beyond well-developed characters and interesting locations; more importantly the story gives insight into the human condition and the human psyche by taking on issues such as cowardice and bravery, guilt and redemption, betrayal, and hatred. The book explores themes such as the importance of standing up to evil or wrongdoing despite the potential consequences or danger to one's self. Housseini also looks at the dangers of dehumanizing whole groups of people and the negative effects such dehumanization can have on a society.
The Kite Runner is definitely worth reading. While the plot may be somewhat conventional and in some places a bit fantastical, the story is compelling enough and important enough to make readers want to see it through to the end.
Target readers:
General readers
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Khaled Hosseini was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan, the son of a diplomat whose family received political asylum in the United States in 1980. He now lives in Northern California, and is a physician. The Kite Runner is his first novel.
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"Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable, beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan nonetheless grow up in different worlds: Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy man, while Hassan , the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara, member of a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When the Soviets invade and Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him. The Kite Runner is a novel about friendship, betrayal, and the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of their lies. Written against a history that has not been told in fiction before, The Kite Runner describes the rich culture and beauty of a land in the process of being destroyed. But with the devastation, Khaled Hosseini also gives us hope: through the novel's faith in the power of reading and storytelling, and in the possibilities he shows for redemption."
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December 2001
I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.
One day last summer, my friend Rahim Khan called from Pakistan. He asked me to come see him. Standing in the kitchen with the receiver to my ear, I knew it wasn't just Rahim Khan on the line. It was my past of unatoned sins. After I hung up, I went for a walk along Spreckels Lake on the northern edge of Golden Gate Park. The early-afternoon sun sparkled on the water where dozens of miniature boats sailed, propelled by a crisp breeze. Then I glanced up and saw a pair of kites, red with long blue tails, soaring in the sky. They danced high above the trees on the west end of the park, over the windmills, floating side by side like a pair of eyes looking down on San Francisco, the city I now call home. And suddenly Hassan's voice whispered in my head: For you, a thousand times over. Hassan the harelipped kite runner.
I sat on a park bench near a willow tree. I thought about something Rahim Khan said just before he hung up, almost as an afterthought. There is a way to be good again. I looked up at those twin kites. I thought about Hassan. Thought about Baba. Ali. Kabul. I thought of the life I had lived until the winter of 1975 came along and changed everything. And made me what I am today.
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| View all 15 comments |
Los Angeles Times (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-25 00:00>
...explores issues of character and country, the subtle and not-so-subtle ways that narrative and history intersect. |
Washington Post (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-25 00:00>
[A] poignant debut novel...The Kite Runner offers a moving portrait of modern Afghanistan. [Rating: A]. (Entertainment Weekly) A powerful book...an intimate account of family and friendship, betrayal and salvation. |
USA Today (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-25 00:00>
...a haunting morality tale set in Afghanistan and California, covering nearly 40 years. |
People (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-25 00:00>
...this extraordinary first novel locates the personal struggles of everyday people in the terrible sweep of history. |
View all 15 comments |
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