Basic Book Review: The Kite Runner Pt.2

              I finished reading up to the second paper clip in the book The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini, and I felt countless emotions throughout the whole thing. I still feel awful for what happened to Hassan; needless to say it was all Amir’s fault. It had always been Amir’s fault; he’s to blame for everything that ever happened to Hassan. Ever since that winter of 1975, Amir has felt nothing but guilt and pain, and he deserves it. He allowed his half brother to get raped by an older boy. That’s right, Amir and Hassan are half brothers. Fifteen years after his wedding, Amir receives a call from Rahim Khan, who is dying from an illness. Rahim Khan asks Amir to come to Peshawar, Pakistan. That was when he told everything that had happened throughout the years. Rahim told about the death of Ali, Hassan, and his wife. He also revealed the shocking truth about Hassan, that he was Baba’s son. Amir must have felt terrible when he realized that all those times he ignored Hassan, all those times he excluded him for his other friends, all those times he insulted and made fun of him for being illiterate, all those times he envied him for being Baba’s favorite, and all those times he failed to stand up for him, affected everyone’s future – especially his brother’s.

              Amir married to the daughter of a general named Soraya. Before they got married she revealed a very personal event that happened when she was a teenager. Soraya said that when she was eighteen, she ran off with this guy who was into drugs. She told Amir that she lived with that guy for a month, until her father finally found them and convinced her to come home. As she was telling him all this, she began to tear up. When she arrived home, she learned that her mother had a stroke – the right side of her face was paralyzed. Soraya did not want to start her relationship with Amir with secrets, so she wanted to tell him this. Amir envied her courage to speak out and talk about a private moment in her life. Amir was so selfish, he couldn’t even speak out the truth to the person he loved the most. Soraya would have been the easiest to talk to about his guilt. But he chose not to. He should have made the choice when he had the chance. Back in the winter of 1975. If he would have done what he was supposed to, Hassan and Ali would still be alive and he wouldn’t be feeling guilty. And Sohrab wouldn’t be a bastard.