Warning!! Plot Spoiler!!

This Article discussed the book in its entirety and reveals major parts of the book!

In my opinion he kite runner was a very unique book. I can’t say that I enjoyed reading it, but I can say that the style and approach was something unlike anything else I have ever read. It was a very “good” book. Khaled Hosseini wrote the book form the standpoint of the main character, which is perfectly normal. The catch is, in my opinion, the main character may not have been the optimist.

In the beginning of the book, Amir (the main character)  comes off as a very nice normal, well behaved child. As the story progresses though, he becomes more and more self centered and his true character becomes revealed. As a matter of fact, Amirs’ true character is so weak that I found myself disliking him from close to the beginning of the book. Hassan is Amirs’ companion, and according to the cultural social standing of the two friends, Amir is much more respected by society. None the less the two boys fathers are best friends and the two boys actually were raised together (later we find out that they were actually half brothers). Amir always is ready to use Hassan (his half brother) as a playmate as a child any time, but as soon as something “important comes up”, Amir is the only one who deserves attention in his eyes. Hassan puts up with this mistreatment, even stooping to saying “if you told me to eat dirt I’d do it”. He was always faithful to Amir, no matter what happened. Amir completely took advantage of their friendship in a sense, using Hassan for entertainment at times, and hiding that he truly enjoyed his company to others.  He also, in my opinion, took a portion of his friendship for granted and acted recklessly until he finally pushed his limits too far.

Amir witnessed Hassan getting raped and beaten by a group of neighborhood boys, which is disgusting in its self. Knowing that all his life, Hassan had been there for him, and even said he’d eat dirt for him, Amir couldn’t bring himself to avert the situation, or even try to do anything about it. Hassan’s parting words were “for you a thousand times over” on his way to doing Amir a favor. Amir responds to the situation by letting this incident happen without even making his presence known as a silent witness. Pardon my language, but that is a pretty shitty friend. Miraculously, Hassan gets over the incident rather quickly (seeing how he could have been scarred much deeper). Upon trying to rekindle a friendship to the sole witness of his rape, he is met with cold, uncaring responses, because in reality Amir can’t live with the thought of what he had let happen. Every time he sees Hassan, he is reminded of the incident. So, instead of admitting to his fault, he devises a plan to get Hassan removed from his life entirely, framing him, and making him look like a thief. His plan works and he never sees his “best friend” again.

Essentially Amir rid himself of the guilt of what he had done by constantly running from the situation. He sends away his only friend because he is reminded of the horrible occurrence. Imagine how Hassan felt, he was the one that was abused. Amir didn’t dwell on that for one second during the book. Instead he ruins his only friendship, takes an innocent mans job and roof from over his head and destroys his fathers’ friendship with his best friend of many years (Hassan’s father), just so he wouldn’t feel so bad about a decision he made, which was his fault in the first place!

Amir continues to live in guilt. For 20 years he lived, working as an author in America, until he got a phone call saying “there was a way to do good again”. Hassan had had a kid who was now living by himself (we learn Hassan and his family died) in the war-torn area of Afghanistan. Amir travels back to his home country, and sort of in a cowardly way manages to save the son of his former best friend. He adopts him and takes him back to America. Now, while this sounds like a sweet story, which in a way it is, Amir was ultimately responsible for the child in the first place. Because of his indescribably selfish acts he committed during his childhood, Hassan had grown up and lived the rest of his life in hardship. Who knows how his life might have been different.

In my opinion there is no way for Amir to be completely “good” again. Yes, he did redeem himself with his heroic actions towards Hassan’s son, but had he not have acted differently in his past, none of the current problems might be at hand.

I found it hard to be supportive of Amir at all throughout this book. He is, in fact, a terrible person. Enough said.