The Kite Runner Book

Discussion in 'Cactus Cafe' started by longhrnfan, Dec 26, 2007.

  1. longhrnfan

    longhrnfan 500+ Posts

    I just finished this (I read it in two sittings).

    This book was spectacular. It came highly recommended and did not dissapoint.

    If anyone wants to read a spectacular story, I recommend it. I'm starting Splendid Suns now.
     
  2. 77horn

    77horn 500+ Posts

    I just finished Splendid Suns. A great read.
     
  3. HookEm

    HookEm 100+ Posts

    I couldn't agree more. The best book I've read in years.
     
  4. CharlestonHorn

    CharlestonHorn 25+ Posts

    My wife is reading it right now. She loves it.
     
  5. SnowballsChance

    SnowballsChance 25+ Posts

    Please do not get me wrong, I really liked the book, but how could you read it in 2 settings? The first part of the book was interesting but really felt like a series of well connected stories. The last part of the book (10 chapters) really tied it together and this I could not put down. While all of the early foreshadowing allowed for some intrigue, it was far from enough to keep me on the edge of my seat.
     
  6. longhrnfan

    longhrnfan 500+ Posts

    The book wasn't about being "on the edge of your seat." I was captivated by the descriptions and beauty of the story itself.
     
  7. wooderson72

    wooderson72 25+ Posts

    The Kite Runner is probably in my personal top three books of all time. Easily top five. I loved, loved, loved that book.
     
  8. CleverNickname

    CleverNickname 500+ Posts

    Its next on my agenda, after my wife finishes it. But if you liked it, I'd also reccomend Orhan Pamuk's "Snow" (nobel prize in literature). If The Kite Runner teaches a little about Afghani culture, then Snow will help you understand modern Turkey.
     
  9. chuychanga

    chuychanga 500+ Posts

    I also liked it a lot. I posted this a few weeks ago, but the movie is now out. I've seen it and liked it a lot, but it's obviously way too big a story to cover in three hours. If you haven't read the book you probably won't get everything you want out of the movie.

    In Austin, it's at Alamo Drafthouse on S. Lamar and at Barton Creek.
    Kite Runner movie trailer
     
  10. naijahorn

    naijahorn 250+ Posts

    I'll be the lone dissenter and say while I thought it an okay to good book, I found the hype undeserved. The author takes a rather formulaic approach to the story complete with the very 2-dimensional villain.
     
  11. Back to Texas

    Back to Texas 250+ Posts


     
  12. aflatoon

    aflatoon 25+ Posts

    I loved the flashback part of the book. Everything was laid out so vividly that I couldn't believe it wasn't an autobiography.
    Unfortunately the second half felt like a completely different book. The climax felt too movie-ish.
     
  13. Remove Rowdy

    Remove Rowdy 100+ Posts

    Naijahorn is dead-on concerning the formula and the antagonist, but I thought this was a beautiful book visually. It paints a great picture of that time period in Afghanistan. I am really looking forward to the movie and hope Splendid Sun gets a screenplay as well.
     
  14. wild_turkey

    wild_turkey 250+ Posts

    I've started reading this book and it's pretty good after about 50 pages. It might take me a while to finish it though, mostly due to:

    a) I'm a proud owner of CoD4
    b) I have Lost Season 3 coming on BD, courtesy of Netflix

    I'm amazed at the OP saying he finished it in 2 sittings though. You must read much faster than I do, or else you had 2 fairly long sittings.
     
  15. wild_turkey

    wild_turkey 250+ Posts

    Well I finally finished this about 4-5 days ago. Pretty damn good book, I was sad to see it end.

    Thinking about picking up A Thousand Splendid Suns, anyone have some feedback on that?
     
  16. chuychanga

    chuychanga 500+ Posts

    I'm about 100 pages into 1000 Splendid Suns right now. It's simililar in the fact that it gives a good picture of life in Afganistan in the late 70's and early 80's for a couple different groups of society.

    So far it's two separate stories of young women. One was an illegitimate child who was eventually given away and forced into marriage at a very young age. The other is a young girl, maybe ten or fifteen years younger, growing up in the same neighborhood.

    I can't quite see exactly where it's going yet, but it's obvious that their two stories will end up intertwined in a dark depressing place.
     
  17. badexcuse

    badexcuse 1,000+ Posts

    For some reason I was under the impression this was a chick book. No?
     
  18. HookemDanno

    HookemDanno 100+ Posts

    I've read both and thought Kite Runner was better, but maybe it's because Splendid Suns was tuned more to the feminine perspective. Both were great books and worthy of recommendation to anyone.

    They got me started on a kick of reading about the region and if you can stomach novels written in the classic style until you get twisted into a WTF? moment by a modern writer, try Mulberry Empire, which does a nice job of framing Afgani history of interaction with the modern West.

    And if you are looking for the BEST FICTION flavored in a foreign setting put out in the last 20 years, you've got to read Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Shadow of the Wind...set in Franco era Spain. I re-read this book at least once a year...really, really good.

    Just my $.02

    [​IMG] Danno
     
  19. nyc matt

    nyc matt 25+ Posts

    It's a very good and well-told story. Sure, it's somewhat conventional, and as naijahorn points out above, the villain isn't a fully developed character, but ultimately I liked it because it seemed honest about the important facts about Afghanistan and life there during this period, and about what it might have meant to grow up there in a certain circumstance, etc.
     
  20. badexcuse

    badexcuse 1,000+ Posts

    Just finished, and this book tugged at my emotions like few others. Quite amazing, IMO.
     
  21. Larry T. Spider

    Larry T. Spider 1,000+ Posts

    I read this book a couple of years ago. I read the first half in about a week then stayed up all night and finished it one night. I consider it one of my favorites. The movie was OK.
     
  22. Thunderhoof

    Thunderhoof 250+ Posts

    I agree with the formulaic comments made above. However:

    - The book paints a picture of Afghan life that I really appreciated and enjoyed. It's not likely that I would have ever stumbled across these aspects of Afghan culture w/o reading the book.

    - The author avoided a formulaic Hollywood ending.

    All in all, a worthy read. I wouldn't argue with anyone who puts the book at the top of their list, but I don't have it at the top of mine.
     
  23. VinceHung

    VinceHung 100+ Posts

    Agreed w/ most here. Tremendous read. True modern literature.
     

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