Fiction
Bloomsbury Pub Limited
2004
324
Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win 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 still 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 world cannot grant him: redemption.
Review
Fantastic Story. So much detail and most of it either beautiful or interesting, often both. I was carried across the planet and placed in Kabul. Moving well, told story, everyone said I would cry. I didn't until the last few pages, the closing of the story and the opening of another and my pages became like paper mâché.