The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

So, what HAVE I managed to read this last couple of weeks?

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

It took me a while to get started because I hadn’t much time to read more than a page or two to start with, but it eventually took over my every spare minute. It’s a cracking read. I thought it was a true story – the author’s – but it’s not, it’s fiction. However, I suspect that it is fiction based on a number of things that are true. I don’t read acknowledgements much (because those being thanked are always unknown to me and therefore have no relevance) but in this case I should, because when you do, it becomes obvious that the story is ‘made up’. That doesn’t detract from it though; it’s just that some tings are viewed slightly differently from a fact v fiction perspective. I resolved to read the acknowledgements and check when Amir the adult came face to face with his childhood foe (I hadn’t seen that coming!)

The story invokes an Afghanistan that I’d like to have visited. Lots of polite people, living happy (ish) lives in a green and pleasant land. It begins by telling of a different land to that painted by Asne Seirerstad in The Bookseller of Kabul. Then, along come various troubles, emigration to San Francisco and an ultimate return to Amir’s roots. He rescues Hassan’s son from the Taliban and discovers all sorts of secrets about his past. As I say – cracking story.