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19/11/2013

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

This is a heartbreaking, captivating, tear-jerker of a novel. It's set in the early 1970's in Kabul, Afghanistan. Amir, a boy who lives with his Father, servant and the servants son (Hassan) is the narrator of this emotional novel. It was recommended to me by so many people, one day I just thought, "you know what, I'm just going to read it" and on that very same day, I visited my aunts house, and saw it on her shelf so I borrowed it and off I went.

Amir and Hassan love flying kites. There are tournaments all the time for the children of Kabul. Hassan has an incredible gift of knowing exactly where the kite is going to land. There's a big build up to this tournament, and Amir is desperate for his father to approve of him, so he really wants to win! On the day of the tournament, something unspeakable happens, and it changes the boys' lives forever. After this incident, the war starts and Amir and his father leave Kabul, go through Pakistan and end up in America, but something brings Amir back to Kabul.

This book just moved me so much. I read it months ago, and I still struggle to find the right words to describe how it made me feel. The writing was great, I loved the incorporation of Farsi into the book, it made it seem much more realistic. How would it have been if they never spoke in their language, if it was always in English? We know for a fact that in Afghanistan they don't speak English, so why would the book be any different? I started to hate Amir for a small section of the book, I wanted to bash his head against the wall, I wanted to scream at him to just do the right thing for once! For a book to bring out such strong emotions in me means that it was truly incredible. This was so unputdownable I didn't sleep the whole night to try and finish it! Thankfully, it wasn't a super-long book!

If you like books set in different countries, that are deeply emotional and show you how hard it is to have lived the way they do, this is definitely for you!

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