The Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini. The story revolves around the relationship between Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, Afghanistan, and Hassan, a Hazara servant who has been hired to take care of Amir. The story covers a period of time from the 1970s to the present day. It deals with themes of betrayal, guilt, and redemption.
It is hard to believe that The Kite Runner is one of those novels that would become an international bestseller when it was first published in 2003. That is because it is not your typical novel. It is more than just a story set in Afghanistan. The book deals with several social issues that are very common in most third-world countries such as poverty, discrimination, and corruption.
The story begins with Amir realizing that he has a half-brother named Sohrab who was born to his father and Rahima, Hassan’s mother. Amir goes back to Afghanistan to visit his father and finds out that Sohrab is severely disabled. His guilt over abandoning his half-brother haunts him throughout the rest of the novel. When he finds Sohrab, he learns that his friend has become an opium addict and has been disowned by his family after running away from home. Amir brings Sohrab back to California with him at which point Hassan’s son asks for forgiveness for stealing the kite.
