Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The one thing that strikes immediately and effectively about this novel is the style of writing. The simplicity and nobility with with grave issues are fluidly expressed. It is something to do with the middle-eastern or Arabian or Islamic writers or their philosophy that reflects in their story telling.
Kite runner is a story based in Afghanistan but it could have been anywhere in the world. The emotions and issues are universal and real. The constant thriving of the son(X) to be applauded and hence accepted by his father. X’s guilt for having allowed his best friend to suffer the consequences of X’s cowardice. The guilt that haunts him all his life and stops us short of dismissing him as a shallow man and finally of course the redemption.
What I fell in admiration off was the manner in which the redemption occurs. It does not change the character of X but yet washes him of his sin and makes us forgive him of his past.
Another striking feature of Kite Runner was that the story is told through the protoganist who has wronged. We hate him for a while, we are sympathetic towards him, he irritates us, frustrates us but he never allows us to leave him…and that is kuddo’s to Hosseini.
It’s a good read.