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sleepycreek 's review for:
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
2.5? I dunno.
This is obviously one of the most popular books to have ever come out in modern times (?) and I can kind of see why. Regardless of what I felt about this book personally, I have to admit that it still holds great value for the fact that it talks about issues that Afghanistan and its people face to this very day in a genuine and authentic way. I respect that and I'm so glad that these stories exist and continue to inspire writers from marginalized and underrepresented groups to tell their story.
However, on a more subjective level, I did not really enjoy this book. Of course, the biggest reason has to be the fact that it's VERY repetitive, predictable, and in my opinion, very clichéd. For me, it was basically 371 pages of "Not this shit again..." (excuse the language). But seriously. Parallelism and symbolism are great but just because they work most of the times doesn't mean they work ALL THE TIME. I understand the author's intention of using parallel characters and events in order to emphasize the themes but at a certain point it just became too much and threw me off of the story.
Another major reason why I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to is that there were just a lot of missed opportunities. This applies mostly to Hassan, one of the main characters in the book. One thing you should know about him is that he is constantly discriminated against for his ethnic identity and that he is a victim of sexual abuse, one that he had to experience at a very young age. And...that's about it. Oh, and he is kind. Very, very kind. I think Hassan had so much potential to be a fully fleshed-out character with a lot of depth and nuance. Unfortunately, he fell very flat for me; it seemed like "being a victim" was his only personality.
I also REALLY disliked the time jumps. Like, the changes are dramatic. I mean, DRAMATIC. Amir start out (in a flashback) as a 12-year-old boy who wrongs his friend (?) very badly just so that he can earn his father's affection. A couple of chapters later, boom. He is 21 and all of a sudden, he is best friends with his father. A couple more chapters later, guess what, he is in his late 30's. I've never been a big fan of time jumps in books because I personally think they're a cop out. How convenient is it, just saying that a decade has passed without actually showing how the characters grew and changed over the years? So yes, it definitely took away LOTS of points in this book as well.
There are many smaller reasons why I didn't enjoy this story but the bottom line is this: It tries so hard to get its points across that it actually makes it a lot less profound/interesting/impactful. The themes are, well... very much in your face, BEGGING to be repeated by you. I'm not saying the themes are bad, they're good and important, but they were a bit too predictable and a bit too not original for my taste.
Overall, I would have to say it was a bit of a disappointment. Especially having read the author's other book, A Thousand Splendid Suns (I read it in Korean so...I can't say what it's actually like, but).
This is obviously one of the most popular books to have ever come out in modern times (?) and I can kind of see why. Regardless of what I felt about this book personally, I have to admit that it still holds great value for the fact that it talks about issues that Afghanistan and its people face to this very day in a genuine and authentic way. I respect that and I'm so glad that these stories exist and continue to inspire writers from marginalized and underrepresented groups to tell their story.
However, on a more subjective level, I did not really enjoy this book. Of course, the biggest reason has to be the fact that it's VERY repetitive, predictable, and in my opinion, very clichéd. For me, it was basically 371 pages of "Not this shit again..." (excuse the language). But seriously. Parallelism and symbolism are great but just because they work most of the times doesn't mean they work ALL THE TIME. I understand the author's intention of using parallel characters and events in order to emphasize the themes but at a certain point it just became too much and threw me off of the story.
Another major reason why I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to is that there were just a lot of missed opportunities. This applies mostly to Hassan, one of the main characters in the book. One thing you should know about him is that he is constantly discriminated against for his ethnic identity and that he is a victim of sexual abuse, one that he had to experience at a very young age. And...that's about it. Oh, and he is kind. Very, very kind. I think Hassan had so much potential to be a fully fleshed-out character with a lot of depth and nuance. Unfortunately, he fell very flat for me; it seemed like "being a victim" was his only personality.
I also REALLY disliked the time jumps. Like, the changes are dramatic. I mean, DRAMATIC. Amir start out (in a flashback) as a 12-year-old boy who wrongs his friend (?) very badly just so that he can earn his father's affection. A couple of chapters later, boom. He is 21 and all of a sudden, he is best friends with his father. A couple more chapters later, guess what, he is in his late 30's. I've never been a big fan of time jumps in books because I personally think they're a cop out. How convenient is it, just saying that a decade has passed without actually showing how the characters grew and changed over the years? So yes, it definitely took away LOTS of points in this book as well.
There are many smaller reasons why I didn't enjoy this story but the bottom line is this: It tries so hard to get its points across that it actually makes it a lot less profound/interesting/impactful. The themes are, well... very much in your face, BEGGING to be repeated by you. I'm not saying the themes are bad, they're good and important, but they were a bit too predictable and a bit too not original for my taste.
Overall, I would have to say it was a bit of a disappointment. Especially having read the author's other book, A Thousand Splendid Suns (I read it in Korean so...I can't say what it's actually like, but).