ببساطة مطلقه : هناك نوع من الأدب يجبرك على أن تكره الكتابه والقراءة
لان هذا النوع يضعك فى مواجهة الواقع القمئ الذي تتجاهله انت بكل خسه

نوع يضعك فى مواجهة معاناة البشر ويجعلك تتضافر معه وتتفاعل مع احداثه
نوع يجعلك اكثر ايجايبيه وتخرج من برجك العاجى لتنزل الى ارض واقع اخترت انت ان تتجاهل وجوده او على اكبر تقدير تتأثر بمشهد تراه امامك على شاشة التلفاز لتنساه بعدها بخمس دقائق وانت تشاهد فيلم او رياضه ما.

هذا العمل يصدمك ويذكرك بانسانيتك المنسيهليقول لك استيقظ فهناك بشر آخرون يعيشون فى هذا العالم .

بشر يستحقون دعمك وعواطفك الانسانيه لتخرجها لهم

هذا العمل كتب عن ارض منسيه وشعب نسى .كتب عن ثقافه انحدرت وتحضر اختفى من امه تعيش فى العالم

هذا العمل لا يذكرك فقط بتجاهلك لانسانيتك بل يتطرق الى مناقشة نقائصنا الانسانيه بطريقه مذهله (حتى لو كانت تشوبها بعض التقليديه )لكنها مذهله

يا ساده فى هذه الارض حضارة اختفت وبشر هلكوا واناس انتهكت آدميتهم لاننا
ببساطه نسينا ما نستحق من اجله الحياه وهى انسانيتنا

"For you, a thousand times over."

Every now and again, a book comes along, and leaves my heart physically aching afterwards. This is certainly one of those books.
"The Kite Runner" A fairly simple title, for an absolutely amazing book. I was swept away on a journey and on this journey I experienced a whole concoction of emotions;
Shock
Pain
Disbelief
Devastation
Inspiration
Compassion
Sorrow...

The style in which this author writes is nothing less than amazing. This is the second book I've read from him, and he certainly hasn't disappointed. The story is powerful and harrowing, but it is handled with sheer poignancy, which makes it such a wonderful read.
This book at times is definitely not easy to digest or even stomach. It literally made my heart beat a little faster, making me anxious to discover what happens next.

My Mother has read this, but she struggled with the exceptionally painful story, which I can understand, as, at times, I had to shut the book, and take a few deep breaths before venturing to continue.

What inspired me the most in this book, was the amazing friendship that existed between Hassan and Amir. Despite a certain race being totally persecuted, their friendship stands tall and true. It doesn't come across as a fake friendship either. You can almost feel the love that the two boys have for one another.

I have seen the film of "The Kite Runner" and it just doesn't measure up to how incredible the book is.
I love, love, LOVE this book. I'm just trying to figure out just how I'm going to sleep tonight.

Eff this book, it crushed my soul. Gahhh, you don't know pain until you've read this book.

RTC

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

more required school reading

i'm hoping this one is as amazing as everyone says. pleaseeeeeee.

4.5 rounded to 4 stars

I must be the last reader to get to Khaled Hosseini’s works. Better late than never though, right? This was an absorbing read, a tough read, but well worth the time and spent emotions.

This novel basically covers the years from 1975, when our protagonist, Amir, was 12 years old, to 2001. I found the story engrossing, heartbreaking, horrifying, and ultimately hopeful. I was not terribly versed in the history of Afghanistan during that time so reading this book was an opportunity to expand my knowledge on the beauty of the country, its people’s customs, the horrors brought on by the Taliban, and the subsequent utter devastation brought onto the land and its people. The story itself was character-driven for the most part and a slow burn. The book lost half a star here as I did not connect all that well with the main characters, Amir, and his father Babu, at least not initially. I cared most for Hassan, a secondary character who was Amir best friend and the original kite runner.

There are many themes in this novel: selfishness and altruism; courage and cowardice; trust and doubt; the devastation and senselessness of war, self-hatred, redemption, and love.

The Kite Runner is heart-wrenching yet will touch your soul. How many books can do that? Recommended for everyone who can read this type of historical fiction.

My thanks go to the Libby App fueled by Twin Cities and southeastern Minnesota libraries for the loan of this book.

خلال قراءتي للرواية، لفت انتباهي المراجعات التي وجهت انتقادات لها وللكاتب خالد حسيني بشأن الرؤية "الغير منصفة" لجماعة طالبان. في الوقت الذي غض فيه الكاتب الطرف تماما عن الجرائم التي ارتكبتها الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية في حق شعبه. وهى بالمناسبة نفس الانتقادات التي وجهت لكتابيه الأخرين "ألف شمس مشرقة" و"ورددت الجبال الصدى".

تزامنت قراءتي للرواية مع قراءة كتاب آخر عن تاريخ جماعة طالبان. مما أعطاني نظرة أكثر تبصراً لتاريخ تلك البلد. ومما فهمته أنه من الواضح أن خالد حسيني لم يأتي بظلم كبير على جماعة طالبان فيما أتى على ذكره من أحداث في رواياته الثلاث. فالجماعة أخرجت أفغانستان من جحيم الحرب الأهلية التي دامت لأكثر من ثلاث سنوات، فقط لكي توقعها في خندق الظلام والفقر والجهل.

ولكن في الوقت الذي ملأ فيه الحسيني صفحات رواياته بجرائم طالبان الدموية بحق الشعب الأفغانستاني، أُصيبت ذاكرته بنسيان تام لحقيقة أن تلك الجماعة هى صناعة أميركية أصيلة. وأن الإدانة الغربية لجرائم طالبان ما هى إلا مسرحية سخيفة صدقتها شعوبهم.

لا أظن أننا يمكن أن ننكر موهبة خالد حسيني الرائعة في الحكي. فمنذ بداية الرواية إلى الثلث الأخير منها، كنت أردد مبهورة "مافيهاش غلطة". تكمن استثنائية خالد حسيني أيضا في تطرقه لعلاقات إنسانية لا نراها ممثلة بشكل كبير في الروايات الأخرى. مثل علاقة الصداقة والأبوة (عداء الطائرة الورقية) وعلاقة الأخ وأخته (ورددت الجبال الصدى) وحتى علاقة "الضرائر" في ألف شمس مشرقة.

ولكن في الثلث الأخير واجهتني نفس مشكلتي معه في رواياته الأخرى. ألا وهى جو "الأفلام الهندي". والاحداث التي لا معنى لها سوى في إطالة صفحات الرواية واستدرار الكثير من الدموع لمحبي البكاء-وانا من محبي البكاء بالمناسبة-ولكنني لم أجد في العقدة الأخيرة من الرواية سوى إطالة مستفزة لا معنى لها.

وأخيرا..عندما فكرت في نقطة "نفاق"-مشيها نفاق-خالد حسيني لأمريكا، سألت نفسي، هل لو أنني تعرضت لنفس الظروف وعشت نفس القهر والظلم والرعب وطردت من وطني، ووجدت وطنا أخر يحميني ويقدم لي دعما كاملا، هل كانت لتواتيني الجرأة على أنتقد هذا البلد؟
لا أظن أنني استطيع الاجابة بشكل منصف على هذا السؤال

4/5 Estrellas

La historia de Amir y Hassan es trágica, es terrible. Te llega al corazón y toca todas aquellas teclas que debe presionar para desatar tu empatía, tu sensibilidad. Es una historia que puede copar con facilidad los primeros y más destacados puestos de lecturas de cualquiera de nosotros.

Transcurre en Afganistán. Desde los años 70, cuando la monarquía todavía reinaba en el país, hasta principios de los 2000, con los talibanes en el poder y en ciernes de su derrota, tras el ataque a las torres gemelas.

En este periodo asistimos al derrocamiento de la Monarquía (1973), al golpe de estado comunista (1978), a la invasión rusa (1979), a su retirada (1989), al gobierno títere pro-ruso, a la guerra civil, al triunfo de los muyahidines (1992), a la guerra civil entre sus distintas facciones, al triunfo de los talibanes.(1996), la intervención estadounidense (2001) y la guerra civil, otra vez, que acabo en 2021 con la retirada occidental y el triunfo talibán. Sencillo y corto resumen, para uno de los periodos de la historia más trágicos y sangrientos que haya sufrido un país.

Amir pertenecía a la burguesía afgana, a las élites que dominaban el país en tiempos de la monarquía y que fueron desposeídos con el ascenso comunista.
Hassan pertenecía a la etnia hazara, de raza mongola, probables descendientes de pobladores provenientes de las estepas asiáticas durante las invasiones mongolas o tártaras. Sus rasgos y sus creencias chiíes, los habían relegado al estatus de parias desposeídos abocados a ser perseguidos o a trabajar como sirvientes y esclavos de otras etnias afganas (el autor pone el acento en los pastunes, no sé lo que tendrá de verdad). Y si su historia ya había sido trágica, imaginaros su futuro en un país dominado por extremistas religiosos sunníes, la masacre y la limpieza étnica.

En este trasfondo social y político tremendo transcurre la historia de Hassan y Amir. EL amor, la traición, la amistad, la muerte, la redención, sobrevuelan las páginas de este libro emocionándonos y asqueándonos, cuando nos enfrentamos a las realidades de este país maldito y abandonado a su suerte.

Pero hay peros, si. No le he puesto las 5 estrellas y os preguntaréis cual es la razón.

Nos presenta una visión de la sociedad afgana que me ha parecido un poco tendenciosa y sesgada. Parece que el mundo afgano en el periodo previo al golpe comunista era idílico, feliz, cuando no dejaba de ser un país atrasado y dominado por una minoría privilegiada, mientras la mayor parte de la población permanecía en la miseria. Un país atrapado en la guerra fría y que venía de un siglo XX donde los conflictos con las potencias occidentales, británicos y rusos sobre todo, había sido habituales. Amir (¿el autor??) pertenecía a esta minoría privilegiada y no nos refleja la situación real del país, ni social, ni política.

Nos presenta el status servil de los hazaras con una normalidad escalofriante. Que una familia hazara viviera en las casas de los ricos en plena década de los 70 del siglo XX, analfabetos y serviles, no parece que plantee demasiados problemas morales al autor. Los trataban bien, no los molían a palos o los humillaban, con eso le sirve.

Nos habla de los problemas en el exilio de estas familias acomodadas afganas que salieron por patas del país, fueron a la India, Pakistán, Irán, Estados Unidos, Reino Unido...pero tuvieron medios para hacerlo y sobrevivir, mucho más pobres, pero sobrevivir. ¿Pero que pasa con los que no pidieron salir? ¿Con los que murieron y se hacinaron en campos de concentración?

Con "Mil soles espléndidos" el autor nos da una visión más real de la terrible situación de Afganistán.

Los niños, pobres niños, siempre se llevan la peor parte. Huérfanos, explotados sexual y laboralmente. Pobres niños y niñas de Afganistán.

Creo que la parte más acertada del libro es la que habla de los problemas que plantea la adopción en estos países con conflicto. Un niño que haya perdido a sus padres, muertos en una guerra por ejemplo, y cuyo estado no puede acreditarse oficialmente (decenas de miles en Afganistán), no se pueden adoptar. Trágico.

Se trata de un muy buen libro, además es el primero del autor, tiene mucho mérito. El éxito de ventas alcanzado lo demuestra. Demasiado "edulcorado" para mi gusto. Con una visión un poco sesgada de la realidad social y política, que me ha impedido darle las 5 estrellas.


Muy recomendable, por supuesto.

This book was very powerful, very disturbing at times, and now I see why Khaled Hosseini is sometimes on lists for school reading, because this has a lot of great themes and nuggets of deep underlying meaning in it. This book was both tragic and uplifting, and it made me feel a range of emotions, frustrated to touched. However, I felt really disconnected from the setting. I was really interested in reading about Afghanistan, but I never felt immersed in that world. At times it seemed unrealistic, which was strange because I've never experienced the culture there, so I have nothing to judge it on. Because much of the story is political, I also was a bit bored at times. The audiobook I was listening to was considerably shorter than the physical novel I have on hand (I suppose I may have accidentally bought an abridged version or something), which was frustrating. I think this book's moral could resonate with a lot of people and the story itself is very unique (even though occasionally hard to understand because of the unfamiliar and under-explained setting).

رميت الكتاب جانبا وقلت لن اكمله وبكيت
لا احد يستطيع ذرف دموعي كما يفعل خالد حسيني

هو وحده من يستطيع ان يقلق القارئ ويبكيه على بطل من ورق

وهذا ما فعله معي ولو كان للكتاب ملامح لارأيت شفتيه ترسمان ابتسامة كيرياء وهو يلمحني امد يدي واقرأ ماالذي حدث مع أمير

كلما قلت لن اكمل الرواية بسبب ماتسببه لي من ألم وحزن اجد نفسي بعد لحظات اعود لها

جميلة جدا هذه الرواية ومن اروع ما قرأت

****

من كثر ما اضاع خالد حسيني عقلي رحت فتحت التقرير وكتبته واكتشفت اخر شي اني حطيت التقرير تحت روايتي


الله يسامحك يا خالد حسيني

"Tank you wery match."
Sohrab squeezed my soul then and there. I love this kid so much.

I love Hassan too much too. But there's no normal way of talking or writing anything without crying whenever that name comes up. I cannot believe a name can make me cry anytime anywhere now.

But Hassan never asked for sympathy. But my heart ... (Sorry, I just wailed for the umpteenth time while writing this sentence...) is so broken at the moment. I don't think I will ever get healed from this pain and sorrow.

I am grieving. I will grieve for Hassan forever.

And grieve for Amir, Amir's father, Ali, Rahim and that boy who died that one night during the escape of Amir and his father to Pakistan.

If at all you want to hate a character in this book, hate Assef. The sociopath and the rapist.

*8th August, 2020:

In the wake of the Fraud of Small Things, tons of Asian writers with their impossibly exotic backgrounds and compellingly interesting lives have become all the rage in the publishing world. And of course, it doesn't get more exotic than Afghanistan these days. Khalid Hosseini rides the wave for what its worth churning out a predictable piece of semi-literate garbage — the sort that will appeal only to fellow Afghani nostalgia hounds — the small proportion of whom believe books are better read than burnt — and to the sort of snobs who love regurgitating knowledge picked up second hand from books like this one to show how clued into the world they are.

The story remains at least reasonably interesting as long as its located in Afghanistan; but these thinly disguised memoirs of boyhood are a banal cliche of writing; it's only very exceptional ones like Swami & Friends and to a lesser extent Black Swan Green by David Mitchell which have any emotional impact.

The book quickly slides into ultra tedium speaking about the sad lives of the once aristocratic Afghanis exiled in America when the Soviets took over their country. And then becomes this 'exotic Afghanistan' guidebook with reams of boring detail about Afghani culture, propriety and mating rituals. I skimmed through this barely reading four lines on every page.

Our unloveable hero then returns, to reconnect with his best buddy from childhood who he insulted and vilified for some obtuse emo reason, only to find that the guy is
a) his step-brother
b)dead

tangles with the Taliban, and in a mondo improbable coincidence, meets and gets his ass-whupped by a rabidly homosexual childhood enemy. Who incidentally raped his step brother. And his step brother's son...and oh god, what's the fucking point?

You might ask why I persisted with a book I was deriving no joy out of. It wasn't because it was a compulsively readable bad book - but since I was stuck in a hotel room with an unusually severe case of insomnia, brought on, no doubt, by the dozens of cups of coffee i consumed in the course of work-related meetings through the day. Most of the other books I had were actually interesting and I figured I'd have a greater chance of crashing out while reading something that was tiresome and boring.

n   The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn. The more places you will go. n Quote by Dr. Seuss.

Afghanistan, 1975: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.

Having previously read this book when it was released back 16 years ago ( that is hard to believe) I was thrilled when it came up as a bubbly read as I felt I remembered enough about the characters and the story to make me want to revisit and discuss this one again. A great book is one that remains firmly is your memory and while you may not remember all the details you will certainly remember the plot line and the main characters. The Kite Runner is an emotional but stunning read with a remarkable sense of time and place.

I loved the characters of the boys and that the book takes us from Afghanistan in the 70s to America shortly after 9/11. I love books that introduces to different cultures. Some aspects of the book make for difficult reading but as I discussion book I think this is going to be a great one.

n   There is only one sin, and that is theft.... when you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. n Quote by Khalid Hosseini. .

What a beautiful sweet and tender story, this is a book full of warmth and heart. A book that left me breathless with raw real emotions for the characters. It's about redemption and second chances and I loved the simplicity of the narration I was able to really connect with the story through the eyes of Amir. The book is full of sadness and sorrow but it's never exploited and I thought the author tackled some of the themes thoughtfully and with a tenderness that I really appreciated. I just know I will read more from this author and quite impressed to learn this was his first novel. This is the kind of book that makes me proud to be a reader.