Boekverslag Khaled Hosseini

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Titels van Khaled Hosseini

• A thousand splendid suns / Duizend schitterende zonnen (5)

  2007

• The kite runner / De vliegeraar (9)

  2003

The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Bloomsbury, London, 2003

Summary
There are two main characters in the story: Amir and Hassan. Hassan is a Hazara and the son of Amir’s father’s servant. The boys spend their days is Kabul with kite fighting, running trough the streets, and mischief. Amir’s father Baba, loves both the boys but seems to favor Hassan often. Amir’s mother died in childbirth and Amir fears that his father blames him for his mother’s dead. But Amir does have a kind of father figure in the form of Rahim Khan, who understands him better and is interested in the story’s Amir writes.
One day, Assef, a mean and violent boy, blames Amir for socializing with a Hazara, according to Assef, an inferior race. He prepares to attack Amir with his brass knuckles but Hassan bravely saves him. He tries to shoot Assef in the eye with his slingshot. Assef and his friends back off, but Assef says he will take revenge.
Hassan is a kite runner for Amir; he runs to catch the kites Amir has defeated by cutting their strings. One day Amir wins the local tournament and finally Baba’s pride. Hassan goes to run the last kite saying to Amir; “For you, a thousand times over”. Unfortunately, Hassan runs into Assef and his friends. Hassan refuses to give away Amir’s kite. Assef assaults him and rapes Hassan anally. Amir wonders what is taking so long and looks for Hassan. He hides when he hears Assef’s voice. Amir witnessed what happened to Hassan but is too scared to help him. Afterwards, Hassan and Amir keep a distance from each other some time.
When Hassan tries to pick up the friendship again, Amir holds it off. He is frustrated by Hassan's saint-like behavior and worries that Baba loves Hassan more and that this would be even more if he knew how bravely Hassan defended Amir's kite and how cowardly Amir failed to act. To force Hassan to leave, Amir accuses him of being a thief and Hassan falsely confesses. Baba forgives him, despite the fact that, as he explained earlier, he believes that "the biggest sin in the world is stealing". With extreme sorrow, he leaves anyway. Hassan and his father Ali, go to Baba's to marry her. He agrees and they marry.
A short while later, the Russians invade Afghanistan. Amir and Baba escape to Pakistan and then to Fremont, California. Baba starts to work in a gas-station and Amir goes to college. Every Sunday Amir and Baba make extra money selling used goods at a market in San Jose. There, Amir meets Soraya Taheri and her family. Baba has lung cancer but is still capable to ask Soraya’s father permission for Amir. Baba dies and Soraya and Amir learn that they can’t have children.
Fifteen years after his marriage Amir gets a phone call from Rahim Khan. He asks him to come to Pakistan and Amir goes. Rahim Khan tells him that Ali was killed by a land mine. Hassan had a wife and a son. Sohrab had returned to Baba’s house. One day, the Taliban ordered him to leave the house, but Hassan refused. He and his wife were murdered. Rahim also tells Amir that Ali wasn’t Hassan’s father. Hassan is the son of Baba, and Amir’s half-brother.
He wants Amir to go to Kabul and rescue Sohrab. Amir, accompanied by Farid, a guide, finds the orphanage in Kabul but the director tells him the Taliban come often and take some children with them. That happened to Sohrab too. The director tells Amir to go to a football match and look for the man wearing black sunglasses. Farid arranges an appointment with him. In his house Amir finds out that the Taliban guy is Assef. Sohrab is being kept at this home. Assef agrees to relinquish him, but only if Amir can beat him in a fight to death.
Assef brutally beats Amir, but Amir is saved when Sohrab uses his slingshot to shoot out Assef's left eye. Amir promises to put Sohrab never in an orphanage again. He tries to take him to America, but it is difficult and he tells Sohrab that he might put him in an orphanage for a short time. Sohrab tried to commit suicide by cutting himself with razors when Amir finally arranged to take Sohrab to America. He finds him bleeding extremely badly, but is in time to save his life. They go back to America. One day, Amir flights a kite and shows Sohrab some of Hassan’s tricks. He cuts the last kite and runs it for Sohrab saying: “For you, a thousand times over”

Characters
Amir: He is the narrator of the novel, born in 1963. He thinks his father loves Hassan more then him and that his father blames him for the death of his wife. He writes short stories, but his father never wanted to read them. Rahim Khan does and he says Amir is a gifted writer. Later Amir becomes a novelist. He immigrates to America and marries Soraya. He thinks that the fact that they cant have children is a punishment of God  because he didn’t save Hassan. He is Hassan’s half brother. "We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name. Looking back on it now, I think the foundation for what happened in the winter of 1975-and all that followed-was already laid in those first words." (blz. 10-11) He is a round character.

Hassan: A childhood friend of Amir, although Amir never really admitted this. He is described as having a China doll face and green eyes. He is very good with his slingshot. He had a harelip. As birthday present Hassan gets an operation to fix this from Baba. Though he is illiterate he is very smart. When Amir reads him his first story about a man who can’t feel sad but who’s tears are pearls Hassan says: “If I may ask, why did the man kill his wife? In fact, why did he ever have to feel sad to shed tears? Couldn’t he have just smelled an onion?” (blz. 32) Hassan confesses that he stole the money and the watch that Amir put under his mattress. He goes away with is father. He marries and has a son, Sohrab. He and his wife are killed by the Taliban and Hassan never finds out about the fact he and Amir are family. He is a round character.

Baba: He is the father of Amir and Hassan. He is born in 1933. He is described as big, strong and healthy. He is rich. He helps a lot of people in the neighborhood and he builds an orphanage. He is not very religious. He does eat pig and he doesn’t pray. He said that theft is the only sin. “No matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. (..) When you kill a man, you steal a life. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?”(blz. 17) It is quite strange that he says that, because he forgives Hassan when he found out that he ‘stole’ things from Amir. Baba dies short after Amir’s marriage because of cancer. He is a round character.

Rahim Khan: He is the business partner and best friend of Baba. He is the one who tells Amir about Hassan’s real father. During the book sometimes Amir wishes that Rahim Khan was his father. He is also the one who invited Amir to Pakistan. He dies peacefully knowing that Amir is now the man Baba wanted him to be. He is a flat character.

Ali: He is Baba’s servant and they had been friends since their childhood. Ali had been struck with polio, therefore is his left leg useless. He is killed by a landmine. He is a flat character.

Soraya: She is Amir’s wife. She really wants to become a teacher and she does, in spite of her father, who wanted her to have a high job in politics. Before she married Amir she ran away with her Afghan boyfriend. This made her, according to Afghan traditions, unsuitable for marriage. Because Amir also had done things wrong, he loved her anyway. She is a flat character.

Setting
The story takes place from 1962, just before the Russians invade Afghanistan, to 2001, when Amir is a real grown-up person. The story takes place in Kabul, Afghanistan, in Peshawar, Pakistan and in Fremont, California as well as the market in San Jose, also California. This setting is very important for the story. Baba and Amir live in Afghanistan, a country with a violent history. They wouldn't have had to leave their country if the Russians hadn't invaded and it wouldn’t have been such a mess if the Taliban hadn't taken over. The market in San Jose is important too. If Amir and his father hadn't gone there, Amir wouldn’t have met Soraya.

Point of view
The story is narrated by Amir in the past tense (except chapter 16, which is narrated by Rahim Khan). I think the point of view is very important. You learn that Hassan is a real friend to Amir. Hassan never told on Amir when they were mischievous. He saved Amir when Assef threatened him and he even admitted to something he didn’t do. Amir, on the other hand, is quite a coward. After everything Hassan had done for him he didn’t save him when he was raped by Assef. Afterwards he didn’t dare to look him in the eyes and he even blames him from stealing his birthday money and a watch, which Amir putted under Hassan’s mattress himself. At that moment, I hated Amir. But when the story goes on and Amir goes back to dangerous Afghanistan, I began to like him again.

Title explanation
The title, ‘The Kite Runner’, refers to Hassan. When a kite cuts the other one kite runners try to fetch the falling kite. Hassan always ran kites for Amir and he is very good at it. "Hassan was by far the greatest kite runner I’d ever seen. It was downright eerie the way he always got to the spot the kite would land before the kite did, as if he had some sort of inner compass." (blz. 49)

Themes
The relationship between father and son. Baba loves Hassan as much as he loves Amir. Sometimes Amir wishes he didn’t. "Baba would buy us each three identical kites and spools of glass string. If I changed my mind and asked for a bigger and fancier kite, Baba would buy it for me- but then he’d buy it for Hassan too. Sometimes I wished he wouldn’t do that. Wished he’d let me be the favorite." (blz. 48)

War. Because there is many wars in Afghanistan. First the Russians, and when they were defeated the Taliban came and things got more worse.

Cowardice. Amir is the coward. He sees his friend being raped but doesn’t do anything, scared that something will happen to him. "He positioned himself behind Hassan. Hassan didn’t struggle. Didn’t even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse of his face. Saw the resignation in it. (..) I stopped watching, turned way from the alley. (..) From just around the corner, I could hear Assef’s quick, rhythmic grunts. I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up to Hassan-the way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past-and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt." (blz. 71-72)

Personal response
My favorite passage in the book is the one on the last page. Amir, Soraya and Sohrab are in a park in the Bay Area  celebrating the Afghani new year. There is a kite fighting tournament and Amir and Sohrab join in. Amir cuts down the last kite: “Do you want me to run that kite for you?” His Adam’s apple rose and fell as he swallowed. The wind lifted his hair. I thought I saw him nod. “For you, a thousand times over,” I heard myself say. Then I turned and ran. It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn’t make everything all right. It didn’t make anything all right. Only a smile. A tiny thing. A leaf in the woods, shaking in the wake of a startled bird’s fight. But I’ll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting. I ran. A grown man running with a swarm of screaming children. But I didn’t care. I ran with the wind blowing in my face, and a smile as wide as the Valley of Panjsher on my lips. I ran. (blz. 340)

I give the story a ten. It’s one of the best stories I have ever read. All the characters are formed with care and so is the plot. Hosseini used some Afghan words in it, so I learned a few Afghan words, that is nice too. The book is full of suspense at some moments. And you learn a lot about the Afghan culture. The conflict in Afghanistan is currently on the news, that made it fascinating too.