I’m trying to blog tonight, but I’ve got to admit... I’m not much in the mood to write. More than that, I don’t really know what to say about this book either. Don’t get me wrong. The novel was good. Damn good. (I’m sure everyone already knew this, though; considering the book’s immense popularity, I’m probably the last person here to read it.) However, my brain’s feeling so blasé at the moment I can’t come up with any insightful response on this reading.You know what, I’ll forego any plot explanation - like I said before, I’m sure you’ve all read it (and if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?) - and just delve into whatever gut feelings I’ve got; considering my brain’s on holiday. Aside from the strong story structure or its powerful, moving characters, I’ve got to say that this at least opened my eyes - if even only a little bit - to life in the Middle East. The book was release in 2003, so I think I’m trying to look at the material back when America was starting to turn bigoted against all Middle Easterners. Then this story comes along and, while fiction, reminds us how people are people and you can’t just lump an entire race in with one evil group - in this case, the Taliban. At it’s core, the book is about family and the ability to find redemption and forgiveness within one’s soul for sins that haunt our past. These are message that - on some level - most everyone can relate to. Using these themes as a vessel, author Khaled Hosseini draws upon sympathy and compassion from his readers as they look upon the Afghanis in a kinder, more understanding light.
Or maybe I’m completely wrong with this. I don’t know. But for one who’s only understanding of the Middle East comes from movies and news reports that depict nothing but rumble amidst a desert wasteland, clouded in violence and bloodshed; I gained a sad realization of what it would be like to be chase from your home at the brink of war only to return decades later unable to walk down the same streets you carelessly played on as a child in fear of being gunned down. Seeing strangers taking hold in a dilapidated refuge that used to be your warm house. Losing your innocent paradise you once knew as home.
I wonder when Hosseini first started writing this? Looking him up on Wiki, he began his career as a doctor here in SoCal and then just randomly switched jobs and popped this baby out two years after 9/11. If this was some sort of master plan in an attempt to shine a tolerant/understanding light on Americans as they began to look upon all Middle Easterners as their enemies, then I’m impressed. But if this was just story because it’s a story, then I’m also impressed.
It’s a good book. Go and read it. Oh, wait. I bet you already have.
I'll tell you the same thing I was told after reading and enjoying the Kite Runner. Go read Hosseini's follow-up, A Thousand Splendid Suns. The Kite Runner is good and somewhat eye-opening. A Thousand Splendid Suns is fantastic and horrific. Same basic story, with two big changes. Instead of a wealthy boy, it's about a few poor girls. And instead of escaping to America for a breather in the middle section of the book, we stay in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan from cover to cover. Definitely worth reading.
ReplyDeleteI agree with stan go read a thousand splendid suns. Its not only a better book all around it also gives you a lost more of the historical background explaining the fall of the Soviets and the rise of the Taliban as a result of the civil war that exploded in the nineties. This is primarily what I studied in college and its amazingly accurate to history despite it being a piece of fiction.
ReplyDeleteI... haven't read it. I'll get on it.
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