You never stop thinking, after you close the book, about Amir , his travels into the depths of his soul, his longing to be someone, he was not, his love- hate relation with his close friend and follower ,Hassan, his troubled relation ship with his father, a meek boy, trying to fit into a larger image of his father..all in the backdrop of a troubled, torn , hilly, traditional, Afghanisthan, you are thrown into the thick of it all.
Apart from the redemption path taken by Amir ,we come to know, how super powers play with small , poor countries how, in this power play, lives of ordinary people are thrown into extra ordinary situations, into situations so unpredictable,they do not live their lives ,but are forced to live their lives, in a completely strange country, a country, where they do not belong.
Amir is a ten years old boy, living in a safe, country home, built by his father, with a living servant at home, and his son Hassan as his playmate and follower and a larger than size, admirable, adorable father, taking care of him, in the absence of a mother, who he lost, at his birth.He craves for assurance and patting from his father, which is his right, but,somehow denied, for some reason, and a special concern for Hassan,which Amir feels is not right, and the boy of ten years is thrown into a situation, where he has to earn his father's acceptance and prove his worthiness, all with the help of his follower, playmate, but a servant's son, an illiterate,who is all, what he wanted to be, brave, intelligent and wise. He is further thrown into an abyss of guilt, when he witness, secretly of his friends disgrace, decides to ignore and not stand in support of him,all for the kite, he wishes to bring back, in proof of his skills in kite flying.He is the kite flier, where as ,his friend is the kite runner, running along the ground to catch the falling kite safely into his hands ,a traditional event, an event ,which is the changing point in the life of Amir and Hassan too.
Amir, makes sure, Hassan is thrown out of his life,but still could not excuse himself, for his unabashed behaviour of gaining his father's praise, at the cost of his friends valour and disgrace.This guilt , this unpardoning, this self culpability, this hell of state continues with him,till his adulthood. The father and son pair, run from their haven of home into an unpredictable future, in search of secure life and redemption of their own guilty pasts.The king, who is at the helm of affairs ,is thrown out, by his relative, with the help of Russian power,and the enforced communists regime is brought over this tribal, geographically attractively positioned ,dominantly Muslim State.
The father-son pair reach America and charter a life for themselves from scratch, the noble inherent father dirtying his hands to bring his son, in a decent way. This country has given ulcers to my father comments the son, at the start of one chapter. A burning feeling of disgrace, the bad times of survival, the eternal guilt of the father, no doubt have given him ulcers.The story teller , is born, from such circumstances and the boy Amir, now adult, chooses writing stories as his calling, much to the dismay of his father.
Another important character, in this story is Rahim Khan, who is a dear friend of the father and an observer of all the events in Amir's life and is a silent pillar of support to the troubled boy.. Amir. His call to Amir, starts the eventful story of this novel. Now, a successful writer of fame, married, having lost his father to ulcers,takes up the call from his beloved uncle ,Rahim, and starts his journey of redemption, however successful in his life, he did not overcome his guilt trap and is an insomniac, and is without any heir, a barren life devoid of any laughter of child,a poetic justice, in store for him, in return to his past riddled with guilt and shame.
His search for the son of Hassan , who is the sole connection for his redemption, both Hassan and wife, being murdered brutally ,by the regime, his house, taken over, leads him into the raped streets of once beautiful Afghanisthan, the pathetic , stomach wrenching state of the people living there as pale ghosts of the past, the land mined streets, the abused children, the poverty, the desolence, the desperate , hell of times ,from which he has escaped ,haunt the boy-Amir and he reaches his mesiah of redemption Kareem, son of Hassan in a pathetic orphanage,being continuously abused by an officer of the regime.
Now, is the turn of the guilt trapped Amir to come to rescue of the little boy Kareem. When he feels, he has done his duty of rescueing the boy and is ready to transfer him to another orphanage, Kareem does the self denial act of ending his life, by cutting his veins, and he comes to know the truth, the mysterios behaviour of his father in bestowing love and care on his servant-son, that Hassan is indeed his half brother, his father,also ,was ashamed and guilty of his acts, and he inherited these from his father, unknowingly.
kareem is brought to America, into their childless home, and a silent, non speaking, wound healing kareem is introduced as his nephew, a boy born into a servant- hazaar family, now an equal, in the land of freedom, land of equal opportunities, only another kite flying event could stir Kareem into breaking his silence and acceptace of Amir's family as his own family, a cycle of guilt and redemption is complete with three generations involved.
After reading this novel ,we cannot stop being relieved to be born in a democratic, stable , India, where, we have a properly elected Government and constitution. The instability ruling over Afghanisthan, is effectively shown, in this story of father and son, paternity issues, the clans, the royal heritage, the elitist few enjoying the fruits of development over majority who are in poverty, the exploitation of the weak ruling powers by strong external powers, the self proclaimed alternate power centres, the talibans, their cruelty, self destructing road the country has taken, all these are inter woven in the main story, in fact, this is the theme of the novel,we feel at the end.
At every page, there is a story within a story, all interweaven ,expertly, I have fallen for his story telling power, fully immersed in the flow, and cannot help wonder, this is a story with a heart, with a mind, with moist eyes, with faith,with hope, with future.. for his beloved country, for all troubled lives and countries.
I recommend, this is a must read and buy book, in recent times,buy and read and enjoy this novel " the kite runner" before you see the movie.
Amir is a ten years old boy, living in a safe, country home, built by his father, with a living servant at home, and his son Hassan as his playmate and follower and a larger than size, admirable, adorable father, taking care of him, in the absence of a mother, who he lost, at his birth.He craves for assurance and patting from his father, which is his right, but,somehow denied, for some reason, and a special concern for Hassan,which Amir feels is not right, and the boy of ten years is thrown into a situation, where he has to earn his father's acceptance and prove his worthiness, all with the help of his follower, playmate, but a servant's son, an illiterate,who is all, what he wanted to be, brave, intelligent and wise. He is further thrown into an abyss of guilt, when he witness, secretly of his friends disgrace, decides to ignore and not stand in support of him,all for the kite, he wishes to bring back, in proof of his skills in kite flying.He is the kite flier, where as ,his friend is the kite runner, running along the ground to catch the falling kite safely into his hands ,a traditional event, an event ,which is the changing point in the life of Amir and Hassan too.
Amir, makes sure, Hassan is thrown out of his life,but still could not excuse himself, for his unabashed behaviour of gaining his father's praise, at the cost of his friends valour and disgrace.This guilt , this unpardoning, this self culpability, this hell of state continues with him,till his adulthood. The father and son pair, run from their haven of home into an unpredictable future, in search of secure life and redemption of their own guilty pasts.The king, who is at the helm of affairs ,is thrown out, by his relative, with the help of Russian power,and the enforced communists regime is brought over this tribal, geographically attractively positioned ,dominantly Muslim State.
The father-son pair reach America and charter a life for themselves from scratch, the noble inherent father dirtying his hands to bring his son, in a decent way. This country has given ulcers to my father comments the son, at the start of one chapter. A burning feeling of disgrace, the bad times of survival, the eternal guilt of the father, no doubt have given him ulcers.The story teller , is born, from such circumstances and the boy Amir, now adult, chooses writing stories as his calling, much to the dismay of his father.
Another important character, in this story is Rahim Khan, who is a dear friend of the father and an observer of all the events in Amir's life and is a silent pillar of support to the troubled boy.. Amir. His call to Amir, starts the eventful story of this novel. Now, a successful writer of fame, married, having lost his father to ulcers,takes up the call from his beloved uncle ,Rahim, and starts his journey of redemption, however successful in his life, he did not overcome his guilt trap and is an insomniac, and is without any heir, a barren life devoid of any laughter of child,a poetic justice, in store for him, in return to his past riddled with guilt and shame.
His search for the son of Hassan , who is the sole connection for his redemption, both Hassan and wife, being murdered brutally ,by the regime, his house, taken over, leads him into the raped streets of once beautiful Afghanisthan, the pathetic , stomach wrenching state of the people living there as pale ghosts of the past, the land mined streets, the abused children, the poverty, the desolence, the desperate , hell of times ,from which he has escaped ,haunt the boy-Amir and he reaches his mesiah of redemption Kareem, son of Hassan in a pathetic orphanage,being continuously abused by an officer of the regime.
Now, is the turn of the guilt trapped Amir to come to rescue of the little boy Kareem. When he feels, he has done his duty of rescueing the boy and is ready to transfer him to another orphanage, Kareem does the self denial act of ending his life, by cutting his veins, and he comes to know the truth, the mysterios behaviour of his father in bestowing love and care on his servant-son, that Hassan is indeed his half brother, his father,also ,was ashamed and guilty of his acts, and he inherited these from his father, unknowingly.
kareem is brought to America, into their childless home, and a silent, non speaking, wound healing kareem is introduced as his nephew, a boy born into a servant- hazaar family, now an equal, in the land of freedom, land of equal opportunities, only another kite flying event could stir Kareem into breaking his silence and acceptace of Amir's family as his own family, a cycle of guilt and redemption is complete with three generations involved.
After reading this novel ,we cannot stop being relieved to be born in a democratic, stable , India, where, we have a properly elected Government and constitution. The instability ruling over Afghanisthan, is effectively shown, in this story of father and son, paternity issues, the clans, the royal heritage, the elitist few enjoying the fruits of development over majority who are in poverty, the exploitation of the weak ruling powers by strong external powers, the self proclaimed alternate power centres, the talibans, their cruelty, self destructing road the country has taken, all these are inter woven in the main story, in fact, this is the theme of the novel,we feel at the end.
At every page, there is a story within a story, all interweaven ,expertly, I have fallen for his story telling power, fully immersed in the flow, and cannot help wonder, this is a story with a heart, with a mind, with moist eyes, with faith,with hope, with future.. for his beloved country, for all troubled lives and countries.
I recommend, this is a must read and buy book, in recent times,buy and read and enjoy this novel " the kite runner" before you see the movie.
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