Go out and buy The Kite Runner today!

I would like to give Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner a resounding endorsement. What a gripping novel! I started it on Thursday night and finished it on Sunday night around 12:30 AM. I read it all the way to Philadelphia on Saturday morning and all the way back, even though that would have been prime sleeping time. I just couldn't put it down.

Perhaps some of you have seen that a movie by the same name has come out. I guess it is probably a good flick, but as always I'm sure that it is missing critical pieces that one can only get from the novel. It is the story of Amir, a boy born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan in the '60s and '70s, after which time he and his Baba (father) flee Afghanistan and settle in the US. The story follows the course of his life and the way that one action he fails to take colors the rest of his life as well as the lives of others. In that respect it is rather like Atonement by Ian McEwan, which I haven't read but I did see in the theater and has been nominated for Best Picture Oscar after winning Best Dramatic Film at the Golden Globes. But I digress. Amir's story is much more graphic, violent and maddening...you don't particularly like him as a person because of his weaknesses, but he could be you or someone you know, which makes it more difficult to grapple with. There is some redemption to be had, but not entirely and not without mistakes and more mistakes. The author's description of the culture there is also enlightening. It gives you a sense of the Shi'a vs. Shiite, the Pashtuns vs. the Hazaras and the way life has spiraled out of control for each group.

So pick it up and start it when you have a long weekend so you won't have to wait to finish it. I believe President's Day is coming in February right?