Nicholas ([info]nwhyte) wrote,
@ 2006-04-22 10:34:00
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Entry tags:bookblog 2006, poc, world: afghanistan

April Books 8) The Kite Runner
8) The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

I think I bought this when some recommendations algorithm suggested I might enjoy it - can't remember now which one. Anyway, I started off thinking that it was rather better than Ian McEwan's Atonement; by the end I no longer thought so, but still glad I read it. Things I liked: the portrayal of childhood, friendship, awful betrayal; the descriptions of life in Afghanistan (and to a lesser extent of Pakistan). Things I was less keen on: child abuse, and a certain running out of narrative steam towards the end. One point I was expecting but didn't find: reflections on being an exile, I guess because it is something I think about a lot of myself. Still, a good book.



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[info]ang_grrr
2006-04-22 09:35 am UTC (link)
I enjoyed the Kite Runner but found myself hardly able to read the last few chapters without sobbing.

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[info]vasco_pyjama
2006-04-23 03:48 am UTC (link)
Yeah... I think there are certain elements that were very unconvincing about it. Scant on detail about Afghanistan. Like the writer didn't really know what was here. In fact, I found the most convincing part the description of migrant world in the US.

Fun read nonetheless.

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[info]nwhyte
2006-04-23 09:12 am UTC (link)
Is it de rigueur reading for people working in Afghanistan in the way that Ali and Nino is for people working in the South Caucasus?

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[info]vasco_pyjama
2006-04-23 09:15 am UTC (link)
Heh. That and the Bookseller of Kabul. :)

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[info]nwhyte
2006-04-23 09:18 am UTC (link)
And is the Bookseller of Kabul worth reading?

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[info]vasco_pyjama
2006-04-23 09:21 am UTC (link)
Er.... I haven't read it. *blush*.

But it's meant to be better than Kite Runner. But non-fiction. And it seems that the lives of the bookseller's family got turned into turmoil after it was published. So some people think it's a bit exploitative.

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[info]vasco_pyjama
2006-04-23 09:25 am UTC (link)
Oh yeah, and Latifa.

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