Read This! (#8) - The Kite Runner

“I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I've been peeking into that deserted alley for the last 26 years.’”

This was a difficult read for me, but not because the writing style was oblique or overly rhetorical. In fact, it's quite the opposite - the writing is tight and the imagery is painfully clear. What makes it such a disconcerting tale is that it's savageness rings so completely true.

Set in war-torn Afghanistan, Amir and Hassan are childhood friends in Kabul in the sunny days before the invasion of the Soviet army and Afghanistan’s decent into fanaticism. Both motherless, they grow up as close as brothers, but their fates, they know, are to be different. Amir’s father is a wealthy merchant; Hassan’s father is his manservant. Amir belongs to the ruling caste of Pashtuns, Hassan to the despised Hazaras.This fragile idyll is broken by the mounting ethnic, religious, and political tensions that begin to tear Afghanistan apart. An unspeakable assault on Hassan by a gang of local boys tears the friends apart; Amir has witnessed his friend’s torment, but is too afraid to intercede. Plunged into self-loathing, Amir conspires to have Hassan and his father turned out of the household.When the Soviets invade Afghanistan, Amir and his father flee to San Francisco, leaving Hassan and his father to a pitiless fate. Only years later will Amir have an opportunity to redeem himself by returning to Afghanistan to begin to repay the debt long owed to the man who should have been his brother.

The Author Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, the son of a diplomat whose family received political asylum in the United States in 1980. He lives in northern California, where he is a physician. The Kite Runner is his first novel and it's the type of story that, while fiction, could have only been written by somebody who was there.

First published in 2003, a signed first edition copy of this book in pristine condition will already cost you close to $500. But even though its been so popular, I tend to wonder about the long term collector's value of a novel based on such a specific regional topic. I think of "A Fine Balance" by Rhohinton Mistry and "The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie as examples of two novels that can currently be had for much less, but may a better long term investment. Like picking the right race-horse, there are no sure things, so it's always better to collect what you love.