The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner is the story of Amir and Hassan and the unique relationship they share. Initially it is a deep friendship born out of being fed by the same mother as babies and eventually turns into brotherhood.

The book is a beautiful and poignant story set in the Afghanistan of fifty years ago, starting from before the Russians invaded Afghanistan up to modern day Afghanistan. Amir and Hassan's story is reminiscent of ancient mythological stories of everlasting friendship. But one day of cowardice on Amir's part changes his life and one sin leads to another and then another.

It is easy to relate with Amir in some sense, when he tries to push away the bad memories by retreating within him and evading all painful reminders. On the one side is his conscience and on the other is his longing for his father’s attention and affections. Amir is all that his father does not want in a son, while Hassan is everything he wants in his son. When Amir and his father escape to America the father-son equations seem to change for the better. America, always playing the symbol of freedom and optimism, heralding the triumph of immigrants of struggling against hardships, in so many books by Asian authors, seems to bury the old wounds
below the surface for Amir. Until one phone call brings back the memories, the feelings of remorse but also the hope to make amends.

Hosseini writes beautifully, bringing a character to the stark Afghan countryside and its culture. He portrays Amir’s characters and deepest fears candidly, so that even though you know Amir is doing wrong, you cannot help but empathize with him at times. A father’s agony over burdens he carries in his heart, Amir’s conscience that drives him to insomnia, Hassan’s innocence and willingness to forgive – everything is written about with insight and empathy. When I began the book, a friend told me I would cry when I finished it. A page turner that it was, I kept hoping Amir would achieve retribution. So did I cry in the end? I’m not telling. I will just say that I’d recommend this book to anyone for a touching and enjoyable read and to appreciate the coming of age of Asian writing.

Title: The Kite Runner

Author: Khaled Hosseini

The Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire

I have to begin this review by confessing that I am not too big a fan of Arundhati Roy’s writings. That may be an unjustified statement, considering the fact that the only work of Roy’s that has ever graced my bedside reading pile has been the God of Small Things, her maiden venture. I say it graced the pile only because I could not read beyond the first 40 pages or so, and so it was returned to the library unfinished.
And therefore, it came as some surprise to those who know me to see me engaged in her latest offering, The Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire. The very reason I picked up this book was that it was non-fiction; which meant to me, no long winding passages describing a minute, perhaps even highly inane and unwanted feature of a somewhat pointless episode. And I was right.

The book is a collection of her writings and speeches from the world over, between 2002 and 2004. Her writings provide an insightful peek into the happenings in the political world around that period of time. Most of the issues dealt with in the book are contemporary in their aftermaths, and provide a deeper understanding of the history of today’s present. It would not be unfair to say that the major chunk of pieces in the book are almost anti-American in their nature: in fact in one of the pieces she goes into a detailed explanation of the meaning of the terms ‘anti- America’ and ‘anti- Americanism’. Right from the indifferent attitude of the Americans towards fleeing Jews during WW2 to the war against Iraq, Roy does not spare America and its policies.

But before u conclude that this book is all about world politics, read the chapter called “Ahimsa”. A touching and thought provoking piece about the protestors working under the Narmada Bachao Andolan, she brings to the forefront the appalling indifference of the Indian government towards the starving protestors.

I recommend this book not just because for its literary value, but because of the tendency of each piece in the book to arouse your curiosity and send you on a quest for further knowledge, made easy by the section called “Notes” provided at the end of the book for people seeking more information about the episodes and organizations mentioned in the book. Especially worth reading are the slightly long but intensely satisfying pieces called “Come September” and “How Deep Shall We Dig?”

Pick up this book because it will encourage you to think of issues in focus in the world today, instead of just absorbing information as you see it on the television or read in print. Pick it up because it is nothing like Roy’s other works of fiction.

Title: The Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire

Author: Arundhati Roy

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

I picked this book up after I looked it up on the Booker Long List. The only other book that competed for my attention was Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People. But this one came out winner simply because of the theme.
Ever since 9/11 happened, anyone who has kept up with the pulse of New York City will know that New Yorkers are still reeling under the shock. Matters are not helped any, by the site of a barren Ground Zero. But this book is not about that. There are no incidents of grief and of loved ones lost. Instead, this is a story of one man, who was so absorbed in his own problems of identity crises, love and the exhilarating independence of a Wall Street job that picks up the tabs, that he fails to notice the world crumbling around him.
Of course the symbolism of the fall of the twin towers is not lost upon him. Watching it unfold from a hotel room in Manila, Changez, our protagonist, narrates with little remorse, the triumph that finds its way into his heart as the fall of the towers “brings America to her knees”. Yet when he returns, the only indication of the devastation of New Yorkers is in the state of Changez’s love interest, who, for the record, is white and does not like him “in the same way” – those two facts are totally unrelated – and is utterly consumed by the demons of her past who include her dead boyfriend and the ghosts of people of the 9/11 tragedy.
Add to it Indo- Pak tensions – I was not surprised that this was given a significant bit of print – and Changez feels an inexplicable and ill-advised need to return to Pakistan. Once home, he is urged by his family to remain untangled in the politics of the situation and upon their urging, Changez finally boards the flight back to America. Mohsin Hamid brings out the conflict within Changez beautifully in this part of the book.
Changez returns to Wall Street a changed man. Hamid symbolizes this change by means of the beard that Changez chooses to keep even in America. The author offers an outsider’s view every once in a while when a colleague whispers racist comments behind his back or when a random stranger leaps out at Changez in a parking lot calling him Arab. And suddenly we see a different picture. A bewildered Changez watches his carefully constructed life in America fall to bits, much like the twin towers of 9/11. A heartbroken, disillusioned and seething Changez returns to Pakistan to fuel the fires of burning fundamentalist issues within the student community in Lahore. And that is where we find him as he relates the entire story to a stranger.
It will not be fair to reveal the concluding part of this story. Let us just say that there is no definite conclusion. The book speaks to the reader at many levels, initially through the genteel and then through the raging emotions of Changez. Hamid describes the immigrant dream come true and then we watch, horrorstruck, as his almost perfect life is torn apart, thread by thread. Hamid tells a poignant tale of a man, too polite to tell the woman he loves of his true feelings, coming to terms with her illness and her failure to make room for him in her life. Even in the enthusiasm of his first days in his new job, Changez takes in America with a child-like wonder, yet having the decency to feel ashamed of himself and his reaction to Pakistan on his first visit home.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a delightful yet touching read. You cannot quite decide whether to take sides with Changez, and you find your opinion of the man quite mixed right through his dreamlike life in the first half of the book up to the turmoil in the second half. And if you’re like me, you’ll turn the page even after the period in the last line of the book, hoping to see more.



Title: The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Author: Mohsin Hamid

Notes: Man Booker 2007 Shortlist