Name: Doan Tran Minh Thanh's review of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Item: The Kite Runner
Rating: 4
Author: Doan Tran Minh Thanh

Khaled Hosseini

I became what I am today at the age of twelve. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a mud wall on a frigid winter day in 1975 . . . looking into a deserted alley. It's wrong what they say about the past, about how you can bury it, because the past claws its way out. I realize I've been looking into that alley for the last 26 years. Afghanistan is a divided country on the verge of war and two childhood friends are about to be torn apart. It's a beautiful afternoon in Kabul and the skies are full of the excitement and joy of a kite flying tournament. But neither Hassan or Amir can foresee the terrible incident which will shatter their lives forever. Khaled Hosseini's first and international best-selling novel has now been adapted into a stunning stage adaptation by Matthew Spangler. This edition was published for the production at Wyndham's Theatre, London, from 21 December 2016.

The Kite Runner

Maryam

There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but not childhoood.

jade shen

I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.

For me, America was a place to bury my memories.

the light of his life, very important to him– from the dedication section

khush

Drachenläufer

Emma Kim

 Ein Dozent eines Kurses für Kreatives Schreiben an der San Jose State University hatte einmal über Klischees gesagt: »Meiden Sie sie wie die Pest.« Und lachte dann über seinen eigenen Witz. Der Kurs stimmte mit ein, aber ich fand schon immer, dass Klischees zu Unrecht kritisiert wurden; denn oft treffen sie den Nagel auf den Kopf. Doch die Tauglichkeit einer abgedroschenen Redensart wird überschattet von ihrer Wahrnehmung als Klischee. Zum Bei-

Gabi🌸🌷

Toliko sreće osjećam da me to plaši. Čovjeku je dano da bude ovoliko sretan samo kad se sprema nešto što će mu to oduzeti.

Djeca nisu bojanke. Ne možeš ih ispunjati svojim omiljenim bojama.

No shvatio sam da je pogrešno ono što tvrde za prošlost, da se može odbaciti. Jer prošlost se otima rukama i nogama.

Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to gain the approval of his father and resolves to win the local kite-fighting tournament, to prove that he has the makings of a man. His loyal friend Hassan promises to help him - for he always helps Amir - but this is 1970s Afghanistan and Hassan is merely a low-caste servant who is jeered at in the street, although Amir feels jealous of his natural courage and the place he holds in his father's heart. But neither of the boys could foresee what would happen to Hassan on the afternoon of the tournament, which was to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return to find the one thing that his new wold cannot grant him: redemption.
-back cover

Amalie Elisabeth

“What I have in ample supply here is children who've lost their childhood. But the tragedy is that these are the lucky ones.”

Uçurtma Avcısı

jakuzi

arkamızda hareketlenen, itişip kakışan çocuklar; ağaçların üstünde yalpalayan, başıboş uçurtmanın peşine çığlık çığlığa düşen bir grup uçurtma avcısı. gözlerimi kırpıştırdım, tebessüm silindi. ama oradaydı. onu görmüştüm. "uçurtmayı senin için yakalamamı ister misin?"* diye sordum. yutkunurken, âdem elması inip çıktı. rüzgâr saçlarını karıştırdı. başını evet anlamında salladığını gördüm. 

"senin için bin tane olsa yakalarım."* dediğimi duydum. 

sonra döndüm, koşmaya başladım. yalnızca bir gülümsemeydi, hepsi bu. her şeyi düzeltmiş değildi. hiçbir şeyi düzeltmemişti.* belli belirsiz bir tebessüm. minicik bir şey. ormandaki bir yaprak; ansızın havalanan bir kuşun kıpırdattığı bir yaprak. ama kollarımı ardına kadar açıp onu kucaklayacağım. bağrıma basacağım. çünkü bahar gelince, karların tek tek, tane tane eridiğini biliyorum; belki de ilk kar tanesinin eriyişine tanık oldum. koştum. peşinde avaz çığlık bir çocuk sürüsü, deliler gibi koşan, yetişkin bir erkek. ama umurumda bile değil. yüzümü kamçılayan rüzgâra karşı, dudaklarımda pençer vadisi kadar geniş bir tebessüm, koştum, koştum.

 it, even more than in times of peace.”

But no one woke up and in the silence that followed, I understood the nature of my new curse: I was going to get away with it.

That's what I made myself believe. I actually 

 to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.

The streets glistened with fresh snow and the sky was a blameless blue. 

Maybe Baba would even read one of my stories. I'd write him a hundred if I thought he'd read one.

And that's the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.

Baba and I lived in the same house, but in different spheres of existence. Kites were the one paper-thin slice of intersection between those spheres. 

Huddled together in the dining room and waiting for the sun to rise, none of us had any notion that a way of life had ended. 

 way of life. If not quite yet, then at least it was the beginning of the end.

"Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors."

Dans les années 70 à Kaboul, le petit Amir, fils d'un riche commerçant pachtoun, partage son enfance avec son serviteur Hassan, jeune chiite condamné pour ses origines à exécuter les tâches les plus viles. Liés par une indéfectible passion pour les cerfs-volants, les garçons grandissent heureux dans une cité ouverte et accueillante. Ni la différence de leur condition ni les railleries des camarades n'entament leur amitié. Jusqu'au jour où Amir commet la pire des lâchetés...

Eté 2001. Réfugié depuis plusieurs années aux Etats-Unis, Amir reçoit un appel du Pakistan. "Il existe un moyen de te racheter", lui annonce la voix au bout du fil. Mais ce moyen passe par une plongée au coeur de l'Afghanistan des talibans... et de son propre passé.
--back cover

The kite runner

Elena Menendez

Pour toi, un millier de fois, m'entendis-je déclarer.

Shelby Doherty

Doan Tran Minh Thanh

Haley

One of the best written books of modern times without a doubt. It’s heart-wrenching and evocative. Every character is complex and realistic which makes every sentence of the book as gripping as the last. Took me 10 years to reread the book and it was just as devastating as the first time. After finishing the book, you will sit in silence with a heaviness in your heart as you peel back the layers of the story.

lands will change and people will grow, but what it means to be a brother will always stay the same. khaled hosseini, as always, writes with a careful craftsmanship, weaving a story of brothers and fathers, of unbreakable faith, of crushing guilt and the cruelty of violence and survival. 

love love love this book so much, from the vivid imagery to the beautiful story! it gives good insight on afghanistan culture and politics, and of the life of immigrants weary from war. poignant and moving. khaled hosseini will always be one of my favorite writers! 

lands will change and people will grow, but what it means to be a brother will always stay the same. khaled hosseini, as always, writes with a careful craftsmanship, weaving a story of brothers and fathers, of unbreakable faith, of crushing guilt and the cruelty of violence and survival. 

love love love this book so much, from the vivid imagery to the beautiful story! it gives good insight on afghanistan culture and politics, and of the life of immigrants weary from war. poignant and moving. khaled hosseini will always be one of my favorite writers! 

Great read while getting to know the old Afghanistan. 

Julian

Emily Lucie

Finia

Afghanistan, 1975: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.

shen

My favourite book of all time.. while im not a very emotional person myself, i cried reading this. What a book.

“For you a thousand times over” - sobs.

Painful and beautiful - tragic and devastating while also being inspiring and hopeful(?). Would like to read it again in my own time as the first time was for my A Levels English Lang&Lit course which makes me feel like I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I would’ve liked to. 

“For you a thousand times over” - sobs.

Painful and beautiful - tragic and devastating while also being inspiring and hopeful(?). Would like to read it again in my own time as the first time was for my A Levels English Lang&Lit course which makes me feel like I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I would’ve liked to. 

This book was devastating. It exposes the very worst things about the human condition, but still manages to give you hope that people can be good. “For you, a thousand times over” 😭

Kaitlyn Wendler

devastating. loved this book though, a thousand times over.

˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

I am left speechless. While I did see a thing or two coming - what I did not predict was the pain this would give me at certain points. Some places, you feel scared to go to the next page, terrified of the next paragraph, petrified of the next line. You come out a little hoepful, a little spent, but overall a little calmer than when you began.

diya

this is a good book for teenagers to read in class. it is ridiculously heavyhanded and self analyzing

yasi

This book was heartbreaking the entire way through, but the ending just tied everything together so well and the writing was incredibly poetic and moving I really couldn't rate this any lower no matter how sad it made me

Emma Lechner

An epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, that takes us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present. The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption, and it is also about the power of fathers over sons-their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

Maureen

"For you, a thousand times over."

***

I had high expectations for this book. It didn't disappoint. Not one bit. Its Goodreads rating is well deserved, if not more. Really glad to have read this book in my lifetime. This may be the best, non YA book I've ever read (!!)

pamela enojas

Sajiya Chaudhary

It's written so beautifully, and I couldn't put it down, once I started to read. Also, it's as if Amir and Hassan are a part of life

anjali

Heart-breaking and very, very beautiful. It left me awed, wondering how writing could achieve and create something as amazing as this. Two days is all it took for me to finish this book, despite my best efforts to read as slowly as possible. Very highly recommended. One of the books that just make you feel immensely.

Megan Parrott

This is one of the first books I remember LOVING. Need to read again.

armoni mayes

I found this book particularly hard to read, but I am glad I finished it. I feel like I have learned so much about Afghan culture and traditions (although this book is not a history lesson of course). I am glad I read this novel!

extremely disheartened by the author's political views. 

sani

I had never read a story set in Afghanistan before. It showed me a lot of the country and its people. Also, the narrative about the two boys, whose destinies are strikingly different, deeply moved me.

Friedrich Schuler

Crystal Mfeka

Amelia C 

it was an excellent book that brought me to tears...

Doan Tran Minh Thanh &
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

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