The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

There was a time when I would not read a book more than once. I'm not sure why I felt this way, but I am so grateful that I am a person who is willing to change.

Everytime that I read a book, I normally see something that I did  not see before or sometimes I completely change my thoughts about a book like I did with The Kite Runner.

The first time that I read The Kite Runner, I read it for enjoyment. I was not planning to teach this novel or do any type of deep analysis with it, so it served its purpose. The second time that I read it, I was reading it teach it to a class, and on this read, I really did not like it. I felt that the second part was totally unrealistic and that the ending was written so that he could turn this book into a movie. I was totally disappointed.

However, I finished reading it for the third time yesterday in preparation to teach it, and this time, I absolutely loved it. I loved the language that the author uses. I loved that many of the phrases that he used in the beginning of the book were used later in the book to reinforce or make a point. Also, this time, I was much more forgiving of the main character, Amir, and I realized that it is easy to judge other people, but we all have secrets of our own.

This morning, most of the the students stated that they loved The Kite Runner, but they felt the language used and the lack of depth would keep this novel from being a classic.

I totally understand what they meant, but I also realize that everyone does not want to do DEEP analysis as they are reading; some people just want a good story, and that is exactly what The Kite Runner is. But, I must add that this novel is an avenue to learn about the Afghan culture, to see what happened to the country once war was waged on it, and to see how life was for people who left and stayed in Afghanistan after the war started etc.

So, it is a good read, but so much more.......

Khaled Hosseini