One More Book Review From Caterwaul

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Amir and Hassan were best friends, after a fashion. Amir's prestige and wealth in Afganistan's last days of monarchy allowed his father to keep Hassan's father as a servant, and as a result the boys (both motherless) played together daily throughout their growing years. Amir's biggest concern, though, was how to win his father's love (isn't that every boy's biggest concern?). On the day Amir finally wins the big kite fighting contest, Hassan uses his own skills to track down the opponent's kite for Amir to present to his father as yet another prize. After he finds the kite, Hassan is cornered by bullies and raped while Amir hides in fear, watching. With Hassan's pain and Amir's guilt, their lives are forever changed. Hassan and his father soon leave Kabul to find a new life, and soon after Amir and his own father have to escape Afghanistan and come to America. Years later, after Amir has grown, graduated college, married and become a writer, he makes contact with an old friend who calls him back to the war-torn area to make amends for the past. This intensely emotional book was sometimes very hard for me to read, but I found it to be one of those books that changes the way I appreciate my life, the way I think about the world. In many ways it's a very simple coming-of-age book . . . and in many ways it is unlike anything else I've ever read.

Reviewed by Caterwaul, our lovely librarian from Linden!