The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein

Twelve year old Amir has known Hassan all his life - the son of his father's lifelong servant, Hassan is Hazara, a second-class citizen. Both motherless (Amir's mother died in labour, Hassan's abandoned him almost as soon), the boys have grown up together. Hassan is loyal, unwavering, and a willing scapegoat for all Amir's lapses and misdemeanours. Although Amir feels guilt, this never outweighs expediency, particularly if the alternative is Amir's strict and disapproving father thinking worse of him than he already does. Amir's weakness causes him to betray Hassan in the worst way he can imagine, and the guilt prevents him from being able to be with Hassan at all.
Times are changing in Afghanistan, and after the Russian invasion Amir and his father flee for America, leaving Hassan and his father behind. Twenty five years later, married but childless, his father dead, Amir is contacted by an uncle who tells him about Hassan, and Hassan's orphaned son, still trapped in Afghanistan. Amir returns to his childhood home, discovers the havoc and terror wrought by the Taliban, and rediscovers his integrity.
This best selling literary novel has an elegant sparseness, primarily by virtue of the detached voice of the narrator, even as he describes scenes of personal despair. Surprisingly, though this technique robs the novel of some of the more extreme emotional power it could have (no weepiness here), the result is sophisticated and evocative.
The themes are broad and deep - father/son relationships, friendship, betrayal, power, sadism, redemption, triumph and despair - and well realised. The secret at the heart of the narration is satisfying, and adds another layer without impeding the course of the text. Unlike many lesser works, the twist is part of the story, rather than its conclusion.
I didn't love The Kite Runner but I enjoyed the journey and feel enriched for having experienced it. I certainly feel as though I've had some insight (albeit cursory and partial) into the lived experience of such significant relocation as Amir and his father made, the power childhood has over one, and the resonance of events throughout the rest of one's life. - Alex