The Kite Runner

Abstract

Thirty-eight-year-old Amir receives a call telling him “There is a way to be good again.” The call brings back memories of Amir’s life in Afghanistan thirty years before. His best friend, Hassan, was the son of a servant in their household. Amir’s father admired Hassan. Amir, jealous, committed small cruelties against Hassan that Hassan ignored. When Hassan, Amir’s kite runner, retrieved the last kite in a tournament that Amir won, a group of bullies raped him. Amir did nothing. His guilt drove him to frame Hassan for stealing. Amir’s father forgave Hassan, but the servant and son left. As Afghanistan deteriorated, Amir and his father emigrated to America. Amir married. His father died. The caller, a lifelong friend of Amir’s father, tells him that the Taliban executed Hassan and his wife and that Hassan was Amir’s half-brother. Hassan’s son is in an orphanage. Amir travels to Afghanistan and discovers that the orphanage sold the boy to a Taliban official, the bully who raped Hassan. The man demands that Amir fight him for the boy. Sohrab, Hassan’s son, saves Amir by driving a brass ball into the official’s eye with a sling shot. Amir adopts Sohrab, but fearing a delay might send him back to an orphanage, Sohrab attempts suicide. Although he lives, he remains sullen and withdrawn until Amir introduces him to kite flying. Some of the graphic descriptions and issues may be considered controversial for young adult readers.