The Kite Runner

Just finished reading the novel by Khaled Hosseini. The opening chapters were very good kind of reminiscent of John Knowles "A Seperate Peace." The characterization of the father and son conflict. The friendship between Hassan and Amir. Amir's selfishness. These were amazing and refreshing read.

However somewhere in between I got lost. Maybe because the novelty of tortured people escaping poverty and landing in America is not new to us Filipinos that the hardships of starting over did not pull any emotional string in me.

Coincidences are good. I agree it helped the novel. However the way Shorab's transformation was handled was too erratic for me. One time he is this good boy the next a reckless child getting lost finding a mosque and slashing his wrist. I don't know if his bit was just to make the novel longer in the last part because it made me yawn.

Verdict: Good novel. May read first few chapters at night but definitely read the other half during the day.