The Kite Runner

         The book, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, was the depressing story a young boy named Amir raised by his wealthy dad, Baba, in Kabul, Afghanistan who grows up being friends with their servants son, Hassan. After a kite flying tournament Hassan "ran" the kite (went to go find it after the string had been cut) he was cornered and raped by a young boy who was also wealthy. All of this happening while Amir was standing behind a wall watching and did nothing. Over filled with guilt he staged that Hassan had stolen from him and Hassan and his father left the family. Amir and Baba traveled to America after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan put them in danger. Amir made a life for himself and got married after Baba's death, and traveled back to Afghanistan one last time on behalf of his fathers friends request. Upon arriving he heard the news that Hassan had been shot by a soldier leaving his son an orphan and Amir was asked to go find his son, Sohrab, who was in a bad area and bring him to safety. After traveling the dangerous journey he found the boy in the care of the man who had raped Hassan all those years before, and after a fight rescued the boy. Throughout a long process, and the resistance of Sohrab, Amir brought him back to America where him and his wife adopted the young boy who became depressed and didn't say a word until one afternoon Amir taught him the joy of kite flying.
           I loved, loved, loved this book! Even if it was really depressing, with hardly a happy ending, I couldn't put it down the whole way through. I even thought this was a true story, until I read the acknowledgments, because he writes with such detail over every single event it makes the reader really connect to the characters and sympathize for them. It's amazing to me that someone can create a story with that much detail without it being a true story. The events that happened and are happening in Afghanistan aren't really talked about in detail much, so it was really interesting to hear what happens to people everyday and how one moment can affect the rest of their lives. It was a lot like the Holocaust in Germany, but just not as widely known. These people went through just as much, if not more, and it's good this book brought awareness to it.