The Kite Runner

[athithi]

I just finished reading this book. I travel on work and have been seeing this book for a long time in airport bookstores. I was always skeptical and thought it would be some tenuous Afghan sob-story (even though I had tremendous sympathy for Afghanistan way before 9/11) and avoided it until last Sunday. It is one of the best books I've read in a long, long time.

The first half of the book is amazingly written. Then the story becomes a little sensationalized. Towards the end the writing picks up again and, though patchy, concludes with same the original impact. If you are someone that does not like over-the-top emotions and cliches, you may not enjoy this book as much as I did. But I found the narrative very direct and absorbing and I enjoyed every single cliche in this book I also read an article the author had written in the San Francisco Chronicle and found it equally absorbing.

I know there are quite a few folks who enjoy reading books on ATOT and thought I'd share this with them. I've been catching up on my John Grisham lately and this has been such a pleasant change for me

 

[deepred98]

i would read it but my friend told me it was depressing and i already have enough depressing books to read for english class

 

[athithi]

Originally posted by: deepred98
i would read it but my friend told me it was depressing and i already have enough depressing books to read for english class

:Q NOOOOOO! Be bold. Don't be afraid to explore sorrow. You will have so much more respect and gratitude for the little joys in life. If it helps, the book won't leave you feeling morose

 

[skulkingghost]

Had that book as required reading junior year of high school. I liked it alot, what a rough life to. Whould you have sat around while your friend was tortured (not giving it away)

 

[HaxorNubcake]

It's better than most of the crap that I've been assigned for high school AP english literature reading. :thumbsup:

 

[BoomerD]

I had this book assigned for an english class at the start of this semester, along with The Grapes of Wrath. (english 101) I dropped the class rather than have to read either one.
I read TGOW in my freshman year in HS, and disliked it then, I doubt I'd care for it now, and I really don't care to read the story of some Afghan kid's life, trials & tribulations.

 

[athithi]

Originally posted by: skulkingghost
Had that book as required reading junior year of high school. I liked it alot, what a rough life to. Whould you have sat around while your friend was tortured (not giving it away)

That's probably what I loved best about this book - the protagonist's open acceptance of his cowardice. I have been a coward - or have, at the very least, had cowardly thoughts - and I could totally believe Amir would stand by and watch his friend suffer. Indeed, he would go on instigate more suffering himself eventually. It all made perfect sense to me. I envied the character accepting his weakness and then getting a shot at redemption. Most people would rather not be cowards to begin with, but if you have ever had a weakness and got the opportunity to redeem yourself, you would admire it like a blind man would admire vision....speaking of cliches

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
I had this book assigned for an english class at the start of this semester, along with The Grapes of Wrath. (english 101) I dropped the class rather than have to read either one.
I read TGOW in my freshman year in HS, and disliked it then, I doubt I'd care for it now, and I really don't care to read the story of some Afghan kid's life, trials & tribulations.

It was a good book, it was more of a story.. than it was a point making story.

 

[athithi]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
I had this book assigned for an english class at the start of this semester, along with The Grapes of Wrath. (english 101) I dropped the class rather than have to read either one.
I read TGOW in my freshman year in HS, and disliked it then, I doubt I'd care for it now, and I really don't care to read the story of some Afghan kid's life, trials & tribulations.

Interesting you should say that. The Grapes of Wrath ranks in my top 5 books of all time

 

[DanTMWTMP]

I read this awhile back. I thought it was cliche'd, but the cliche's had to be there (for the messages it tried to convey, read Athithi's post, lol). The imagery of the novel is great. It's probably one of the very few books I've ever read that actually gave me a crisp clear picture of what's going on in my head.

But ya, I'm really glad I read the book. I used to be inherently (and hated that i was) biased against the people of that area, and of darker colored people. I truely hated that aspect of myself, but after reading this, and other books with minorities as heroins (Pastwatch and Magic Street by OSC), I rid of myself completely of that stupid bias.

 

[Rumpltzer]

I'm a literature snob. I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction.

I thought The Kite Runner was really good.


I can't believe BoomerD dropped a class over reading a couple of books. It's a little sad. What are you majoring in??

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: Rumpltzer
I'm a literature snob. I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction.

I thought The Kite Runner was really good.


I can't believe BoomerD dropped a class over reading a couple of books. It's a little sad. What are you majoring in??

There was actually more to dropping the class than just the reading material, but it was a major factor.
Turns out, the instructor, (part-timer) is also the law partner of my wife's gambling buddy, and we know her socially. I had a problem with taking a class from someone I know personally.
HOWEVER, why bust your ass reading books that you have no interest in?
Sure, there will always be classes that do have books you don't like to read, but why go into the class KNOWING you're going to have to read books about things you don't care about?
FYI, my major is Architectural Drafting. I know I will have to read several text books I really don't like, (duh, they're text books) but they're more for the information in them, than the story behind them...I prefer to choose my own fiction when I read...

 

[athithi]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: Rumpltzer
I'm a literature snob. I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction.

I thought The Kite Runner was really good.


I can't believe BoomerD dropped a class over reading a couple of books. It's a little sad. What are you majoring in??

There was actually more to dropping the class than just the reading material, but it was a major factor.
Turns out, the instructor, (part-timer) is also the law partner of my wife's gambling buddy, and we know her socially. I had a problem with taking a class from someone I know personally.
HOWEVER, why bust your ass reading books that you have no interest in?
Sure, there will always be classes that do have books you don't like to read, but why go into the class KNOWING you're going to have to read books about things you don't care about?
FYI, my major is Architectural Drafting. I know I will have to read several text books I really don't like, (duh, they're text books) but they're more for the information in them, than the story behind them...I prefer to choose my own fiction when I read...

Fair enough. My wife reads these really crappy romance novels and initially it used to bug the hell out of me. Here I was lovingly building my own private paperback library - a childhood dream (seriously!) - and my wife was polluting it with these...ugh, can't even bring myself to say it...trash novels :laugh: But then I figured reading a book is a very personal experience (unlike a textbook, of course) and no two people feel the same way about it. Obviously, there are going to be plenty of other good books that you might enjoy. I just started this topic because I have seen several book-related thread on ATOT before and thought others here might want to give this book a try if they are looking for a good book to read.

 

[Dacalo]

I want to read this book, but currently I am reading In Cold Blood by Capote at the moment and also studying for the CPA exam, ugh. Not making much progress with my leisure reading... Love books but the last thing I want to do after work is pop open another book to read.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
I read this awhile back. I thought it was cliche'd, but the cliche's had to be there (for the messages it tried to convey, read Athithi's post, lol). The imagery of the novel is great. It's probably one of the very few books I've ever read that actually gave me a crisp clear picture of what's going on in my head.

But ya, I'm really glad I read the book. I used to be inherently (and hated that i was) biased against the people of that area, and of darker colored people. I truely hated that aspect of myself, but after reading this, and other books with minorities as heroins (Pastwatch and Magic Street by OSC), I rid of myself completely of that stupid bias.

Cliches were annoying but overall I thought it was a good read. It was the summer reading for the Duke Class of 2009

 

[trmiv]

I've considered reading that book. Mainly because part of it is set here in Fremont, mainly right down the street from where I live. I know the final part is set at Lake Elizabeth, which is right across the street from my apartment. The weird thing is, they're filming a movie for it, but they didn't film in Fremont. They actually did film in the Bay Area, but used other locations to stand in for Fremont.

 

[Mo0o]

Not too bad, enjoyable. It's a quick read so doesn't hurt to check it out