A review by caribbeangirlreading
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Did not finish book. Stopped at 27%.
If I had read this book in 2003 I would have most probably given it a four or five star rating. Now, I can’t make it past the first 100 pages. These were some of my issues: 
 
• In her 2012 scathing review Cath Murphy said it best so I will just quote her – “In The Kite Runner servants embrace the joy of serving others in a way that makes Uncle Tom seem like a firebrand for emancipation.” And on that subject, spare me the whole “servants were like family to us” story line. 
• Hassan’s character is not only flat, but he’s also too Christ-like. He’s written as a sacrificial lamb that can do no wrong no matter how much wrong is done to him. He’s too good, too holy, too perfect. Zero nuance. 
• And speaking of zero nuance, that half-German Hitler loving 12-year-old sociopath . . . I just can’t with that kind of lazy character development. 
• This book was very obviously written for the American gaze. 
 
Having said all of this, I would be willing to read another one of Hosseini’s books. Why? Because 10 years after writing The Kite Runner, in an interview with The Guardian, he actually admitted that if he “were given a red pen now . . . [He] would take that thing apart.” Well, I would too.
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