Kite Runner

It was a painful and yet beautiful book. I too loved the perfect ending- life was not perfect but it was hopeful.

I actually thought Amir was a little hard on himself. He was a kid and he was reacting to influences out of his control in typical kid fashion. He was jealous of Hassan for reasons that he sensed but didn't understand or have enough knowledge to understand. His culture told him that Hassan was not a person but a slave. His father showed him different but also made him jealous because Hassan was everything his Father could have wanted in a son. There would have been sibling rivalry between them if they had both been legitimate- they might not have been friends at all then because of Amir's inferiority complex. They were able to have their strange friendship because of their situation. I got annoyed with Amir being cruel but his methods of cruelty were pretty mild- brotherly even- usually. He made up stories instead of reading the real words- stories that Hassan enjoyed. He flaunted his power a little but Hassan was good at standing up for himself subtly. He kept Amir from abusing his power too much(usually) by not reacting to his tauntings or simply offering his faithfulness and loyalty. My Mom used to tell my sister that my brother would stop taunting her if she didn't give him such a big reaction. Her reaction created all the fun. Hassan did this very wisely. Amir was a better person because Hassan showed Amir his faults simply by being Hassan.

It was hard to read about Hassan's abuse by Assef. It was hard to have Amir share in the shame without ever talking with Hassan about it. That was the worst- the months of non-communication and miscommunication. Later I think I was more mad at Rahim for not helping both of the boys through it. A child is not equipped to know how to deal with that kind of situation. Amir tried to avoid it and couldn't which is totally understandable. It was painful for him to set Hassan up and kick him out but based on later events I wonder if this was not better for him. Hassan escaped further abuse from Assef as a child. Based on the friend of Assef's who escaped at the same time as Amir and based on Hassan's murder- I think Hassan would have been terrorized continually by Assef if he had stayed there. Rahim said as much to Amir when he told him the story of his banished lover. Hassan was facing worse than Rahim's lover if he stayed and he had no one to protect him. I'm not sure that Amir could have done anything to protect Hassan in the streets from Assef. I'm not sure that even getting an adult would have done any good because he was too far from his father and most of the city did not consider Hassan person.
I thought it interesting that Assef was shown as the core of the Taliban- He being a man so impure and evil. It seems that was the nature of the movement- It professed to be one thing while in actuality it was another. It was a cover for hate and sin. It reminded me a lot of the Nazi reign of terror. Similar motivations and tactics.
I was proud of Amir for assimilating so fast the fact that Hassan was his half brother. That cannot have been easy. He spent so much of his life feeling inadequate and imperfect in his father's shadow. To suddenly discover his father was so imperfect(especially by his father's own standards) must have been very painful. He also showed bravery in taking the wife that he chose imperfect as she was. Amir was a better man than he gave himself credit for.