The awkward relations between the two boys, and between Amir and his father, are parallelled by political turmoil. Amir and Baba flee to Pakistan with a view to settling in California. American soil revives Baba's up-beat nature, while for Amir America is "a river, roaring along, unmindful of the past," and for that reason welcome.
Amir goes on to take a wife, but remains childless. The sudden appearance of his father's oldest friend brings news of Hassan via a series of letters. In these Hassan conveys his delight at now being father to a son, Sohrab, who has already become expert with a slingshot. Rather more horrific news follows, however. With the Taliban now in power, all Hezaras, including Hassan and his wife, are liable to be executed under the flimsiest of pretexts. Finally the friend informs Amir that he and Hassan are in reality brothers, each the son of Baba. He then asks Amir to try to bring Hassan's son to California.
Sohrab turns out to be a troubled child, regularly abused in an orphanage on the vicious Assef's instructions. A fight eventually takes place between Assef, armed with brass knuckles, and Amir, but Sohrab intervenes and blinds Assef in one eye with his slingshot. Amir has escaped Assef, but neither he nor Sohrab are out of the woods yet. The bureaucracy's insistence that Sohrab return to the orphanage results in his attempted suicide, though the young boy's life is eventually saved.
The book ends, not with the sun parting gray clouds, but with the ghost of a smile. It was a smile that "didn't make everything all right" but was merely "a leaf in the woods, shaking in the wake of a startled bird's flight." Sohrab remains undecided about joining Amir in California, but Amir, now liberated from what he sees as his past sins of omission, can only look forward to the changes the new spring will bring.
This fine novel — both vivid and poetic — has already established a large following and can't fail to garner more. It's available in Taiwan at Eslite Bookstores.
Publishion Notes:
THE KITE RUNNER
by Khaled Hosseni
324 pages
BLOOMBURY
RSS