A review by willowsmeanders
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

4.0

Finally, I have read this thing. And was it good? Mostly. Why? Let’s begin!

Pros
1. Amir as an Anti-Hero. I know that many people hate Amir because he’s very selfish, but —oddly — I think it fleshed him out. While it does become extreme when

Spoiler

he lets Hassan get screwed, it causes him to feel guilt and redeem himself.

2. The grey characters. Everyone did something horrible, even if they’re nice.

Spoiler

Amir betrayed Hassan and let him get raped, Baba slept with Sanaubar after his wife died and conceived Hassan, Rahim Khan kept it a secret, Soraya ran away, etc.

Grey, indeed.
3. Hassan. Just Hassan. I can’t say more without crying.
4. The emotional moments and the light-hearted moments were nicely balanced.

Cons
1. The writing style. I think there were too many fragment sentences (something that irked me as a Grammar Nazi) and it was slightly dry at times. There were a lot of Farsi words and translations thrown willy-nilly which bothered me. Like when

Spoiler

Baba warns Amir about “courting” Soraya. He says General Taheri, her dad, had honor and pride, but he used nang and namoos. But he translated IN DIALOGUE! That made me angry.

-.5 for that.
2. Instalove with

Spoiler

Amir and Soraya. One moment Amir’s gushing over her like a creep and she’s unaware of his existence, the next moment they’re married and trying to have a kid.

Many look over it as “Afghan culture”, but using this trope is sinful and deserves -1 star. So -1 star.

OVERALL RATING: 3.5 stars