Unatoned Sins

At the very beginning of the book The Kite Runner, an Afghan man Amir in California received a phone call from his father’s old friend from the war torn Afghanistan. He knew it was the past of his unatoned sins calling.

It is a story of two boys, best friends, growing up in Kabul. Because of a neighbor bully (Assef), because of his cowardice and his shame, Amir betrayed his best friend who loves him with all his heart and soul. Then Amir went on with his life moved to California with his father when Russians invaded Afghanistan. As the story unravels, he found out shocking facts and sins committed by his virtuous late father.

Those sins are of course pale in comparison the brutal Russian invaders and monstrous Talibans (Sunni Moslem) who massacred the Mongolian Afghans (Hazara who happen to its viral Shia Moslem). Foreign powers provided money, guns and rockets, and Afghans took the baits killing each other trying to dominate and control. Near the end, Amir finally met the old bully Assef face to face. Assef turned into a blood-thirsty Taliban.

The book is full of surprises that grip you from chapter to chapter. It is Afghan immigrant Kaled Hosseini’s first book. He writes with spare words—incomplete sentences—one word one sentence and sometimes even one word one paragraph--stuffs that could have been flunked by my highschool English teacher. Nonetheless, I found the writing style refreshing. Like many good authors, Hosseini has exceptional insight in humanity when he writes his characters. Afghanistan is an exotic place and little known culture. But people are the same everywhere after all; it is a journey many readers will find it worth taking.