Books of 2007: The Kite Runner

Friends of The Reader recommend their books of 2007.

By Wendy Kay

My book of 2007 is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. This book tells the story of Amir the son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir’s father’s servant. The story starts with Amir and Hassan as childhood friends in the 1970s in Afghanistan. A terrible and unforeseen incident occurs and Amir cannot maintain his close relationship with Hassan because of the guilt he feels. Amir and his father later move to America as Afghanistan becomes unstable but Amir cannot forget or forgive his past until an opportunity arrives in his adulthood to seek redemption. The question is how far will he go to put right the mistakes of his past and will this redeem him?

Our reading group members have said they have learned a lot about Afghanistan, its culture, history and traditions as they read the story: 'It doesn't feel like you are being lectured about it, more that the story gives insight into how people there have had to live their lives and how difficult it would then be to have to begin to live out your life in a completely different culture'. It is by no means easy to read, there are some real tongue twister place-names that we have all had to master, but it is gripping, informative and at times causes some very strong emotions.

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Wendy Kay, Project Worker at Get Into Reading.