Advantages: A must read! Disadvantages: Not for kids due to some content
The Kite Runner
One of the best books I have read all year and a truly wonderful story. The Kite Runner is a 2003 book written by Khaled Hosseini and was his debut novel.
It tells the story of a young boy called Amir. He is growing up in 1970's Afghanistan and faces many trials and tribulations. At first he lives a fairly great looking life on the surface of it. His father is well off and they live in a big pink house away from all the run down houses in the village. He has a great friend, one he can really rely on and trust, Hassan. Hassan and his father are actually servants for Amir and his father and although they have a great bond, Amir often feels embarrassed by Hassan and that embarrassment leads to shame when he questions his actions.
Amir's father is very cold and shut off and he is always desperately trying to win ...
Advantages: Absorbing tale, characters unfold during the novel, Disadvantages: Harrowing at times
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is an absorbing tale of life in Afghanistan. It tells the tale of Amir a young boy from a fairly wealthy family in Afghanistan. This is Afghanistan in the 1970?s before the Taliban and before the Soviet invasion. Amir lives in a nice house with his father (his mother died shortly after childbirth) and in the grounds of the house lives his fathers servant Ali with his son Hassan.
Hassan is the kite-runner of the story but I will explain what that means later. Ali and Hassan come from the lower caste Hazaras and Amir although happy to play with the illiterate Hassan when he needs a friend at other times ignores him or makes fun of his inability to read or write. Throughout the story Hassan always remains the loyal friend and it is this loyalty that the story is about.
Amir wants to win ...
Advantages: Great story, great characters Disadvantages: None
relationship as much as the book did and I would have liked to see this developed a bit more. The friendship between Amir and Hassan is pure and real but also tested. I think it makes you look at your own friendships and be glad that they are there.
The film was actually mostly filmed in Kashgar, China because it was too dangerous to film in Afghanistan. Although I have never been to Afghanistan so I have nothing to compare it to it did seem very real to me and definitely looked like the areas which the author of the book had written about.
Like I said I found the film in Sainsburys for £11.97 but it is pretty much available in all the usual stores. It is rated 12 due to strong language and runs for approximately 122 minutes.
Special features include, "Words from the Kite Runner, Images from the Kite Runner and the Theatrical Trailer ...
