A review by irene_g08
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Read #2: 2023
I reread this book for school and my previous rating of 4 stars still stands but I think I have some more insight I didn’t have before. If I had to describe this book in one word it would be heartbreaking. All the characters have so much undiscussed trauma and they all cope with it differently. The writing is very hard and the trauma representation feels very realistic. I still think Amir was a selfish character, but by the end I think he is on the path to start redeeming himself. I highly recommend this book both please do know that there are many many trigger warnings that need to come with it. 

So I gave this book a 4 stars. And let me tell you why. First off the positives: The writing is incredible. The descriptions are so well written and so easy to imagine. The characters are written with positives and negatives making it hard to love and hate them. Now the negatives: The way the main character, Amir, acts is absolutely horrible. He has a bigger the life ego and always wants things to go his way. The way he treats his friend and then goes to save this friend’s kid is so wrong. His redemption journey is selfish as he is doing it to clear HIS conscious. He always gets himself in trouble that his friend, Hassan, or Hassan’s child, Sohrab, has to get him out of. I also didn’t cry most likely due to the fact that I couldn’t get over what Amir did no matter what he tried to do. It was still a good book nonetheless.
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