La Petite Américaine's Reviews > The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner
by
by
![59329](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p2/59329.jpg)
La Petite Américaine's review
bookshelves: sucked, middle_east, worst-garbage-i-ve-ever-read, rants
May 11, 2008
bookshelves: sucked, middle_east, worst-garbage-i-ve-ever-read, rants
After pondering long and hard, I'm going to try now to articulate just what it was about this book that sucked so much, why it has offended me so greatly, and why its popularity has enraged me even more. This book blew so much that I've been inspired to start my own website of book reviews for non-morons. So let us explore why.
First, let's deal with the writer himself. Hosseini's father worked for Western companies while in Afghasnistan. While daddy (who I am guessing, from Hosseini's tragic account of the "fictional" father, never accepts his son) worked and got wealthy, normal Afghans lived their lives. When war broke out, Hosseini's father was offered a safe position in Iran. Just before the revolution in Iran, his father was offered another job in Paris, before finally taking the family to the USA.
That's fine ... some of us are lucky in life. Others are not. What bothers me, though, is that The Kite Runner is so obviously what Hosseini WISHES had happened.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Hassan character really did exist in some form or another. Surely Hosseini had a friend/sometimes playmate/servant who was left behind while Hosseini's powerful family escaped. Surely, Hosseini feels guilty for leaving his homeland by simple privilege while the less fortunate were left behind to fight the Soviets, the Mujahideen, and then the Taliban. And surely, Hosseini wishes he were some flawed hero that didn't simply get lucky. He wishes he'd majored in English, as the protagonist does, and published fiction books instead of becoming a run-of-the-mill doctor; he wishes his father had depended upon him in the USA as happens in the book, instead of getting by just fine as a rich exile with a daddy-doesn't-love-me complex; he wishes he could go back to Afghanistan, risking his life to make ammends for his shitty and cowardly past, instead of remaining a wealthy outsider living happily in the USA.
Hosseini is simply some guy who feels guilty about having escaped what so many of his fellow countrymen couldn't, and he makes up for it in fantasy in a million ways: accepting his fallen father, marrying an "unsuitable" woman, listening to a voice from the past, saving the son of his friend he watched being raped decades before (when he was too selfish to intervene), stomaching the live stoning of a burka-clad woman and her adulterous lover, taking a beating from an old enemy/Taliban child molestor, giving $2000 to a poor smuggler who tries to feed his kids on $3 a week, and saving a 12 year-old from suicide. If Hosseini REALLY did all this, what a hero he would be. Instead, he just makes it up and calles it a novel ... and people devour this shit with tears, labeling it as "inspirational" and "moving."
What really bothers me? Besides all of the contrived and predictable plot twists?? What really disturbs me is that people not only eat this shit up, but they also call it "literature," award it, and give this guy money and license to write another book.
For lack of better words ... WTF?!!!??! Has everyone just gone STUPID?!!?!?
I could go on about how the writing sucks, especially when the author admits to using cliches (elephant in the room, dark as night, thin as a rake, et fucking c) but I won't.
Why? A couple of reasons:
1) If you liked this book, a part of you is sick, and a larger part of you is an idiot
2) I could write a 100-page thesis about how much this book blew monkey chunks, but it's not worth my time
3) This shit sells, and Hosseini, between his stupid book and movie deals, is an even richer man than he was before ... which in the end, makes him smarter than you, me, and everyone else .... He understands the market and fed it back to us. We probably deserve it.
First, let's deal with the writer himself. Hosseini's father worked for Western companies while in Afghasnistan. While daddy (who I am guessing, from Hosseini's tragic account of the "fictional" father, never accepts his son) worked and got wealthy, normal Afghans lived their lives. When war broke out, Hosseini's father was offered a safe position in Iran. Just before the revolution in Iran, his father was offered another job in Paris, before finally taking the family to the USA.
That's fine ... some of us are lucky in life. Others are not. What bothers me, though, is that The Kite Runner is so obviously what Hosseini WISHES had happened.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Hassan character really did exist in some form or another. Surely Hosseini had a friend/sometimes playmate/servant who was left behind while Hosseini's powerful family escaped. Surely, Hosseini feels guilty for leaving his homeland by simple privilege while the less fortunate were left behind to fight the Soviets, the Mujahideen, and then the Taliban. And surely, Hosseini wishes he were some flawed hero that didn't simply get lucky. He wishes he'd majored in English, as the protagonist does, and published fiction books instead of becoming a run-of-the-mill doctor; he wishes his father had depended upon him in the USA as happens in the book, instead of getting by just fine as a rich exile with a daddy-doesn't-love-me complex; he wishes he could go back to Afghanistan, risking his life to make ammends for his shitty and cowardly past, instead of remaining a wealthy outsider living happily in the USA.
Hosseini is simply some guy who feels guilty about having escaped what so many of his fellow countrymen couldn't, and he makes up for it in fantasy in a million ways: accepting his fallen father, marrying an "unsuitable" woman, listening to a voice from the past, saving the son of his friend he watched being raped decades before (when he was too selfish to intervene), stomaching the live stoning of a burka-clad woman and her adulterous lover, taking a beating from an old enemy/Taliban child molestor, giving $2000 to a poor smuggler who tries to feed his kids on $3 a week, and saving a 12 year-old from suicide. If Hosseini REALLY did all this, what a hero he would be. Instead, he just makes it up and calles it a novel ... and people devour this shit with tears, labeling it as "inspirational" and "moving."
What really bothers me? Besides all of the contrived and predictable plot twists?? What really disturbs me is that people not only eat this shit up, but they also call it "literature," award it, and give this guy money and license to write another book.
For lack of better words ... WTF?!!!??! Has everyone just gone STUPID?!!?!?
I could go on about how the writing sucks, especially when the author admits to using cliches (elephant in the room, dark as night, thin as a rake, et fucking c) but I won't.
Why? A couple of reasons:
1) If you liked this book, a part of you is sick, and a larger part of you is an idiot
2) I could write a 100-page thesis about how much this book blew monkey chunks, but it's not worth my time
3) This shit sells, and Hosseini, between his stupid book and movie deals, is an even richer man than he was before ... which in the end, makes him smarter than you, me, and everyone else .... He understands the market and fed it back to us. We probably deserve it.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
May 11, 2008
– Shelved as:
sucked
May 11, 2008
– Shelved
May 11, 2008
–
Finished Reading
July 7, 2008
– Shelved as:
middle_east
May 12, 2010
– Shelved as:
worst-garbage-i-ve-ever-read
March 21, 2012
– Shelved as:
rants
Comments Showing 51-100 of 265 (265 new)
i LOVE when this review pops up on the feed and i get to reread it!
![Gin](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
....dude there are these things called HOBBIES you know. Try some!"
Yes, naturally I have no hobbies since I created an account on a book discussion and review site. Although you never know...I might just take up obsessively trolling blunt and outspoken people on the Internet. Because, as La Petite Americaine has implied, I am apparently a loser with no life. (So what does that make her, since she flared up against my no-life comment and replied with an equally inane one?)
Oh, Christ, I fell off this thread and it's killing me now.
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
God these fuckin people who would lay down their lives over this stupid shitty book, I've never seen anything like it.
![Moira](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1256449807p1/1630617.jpg)
Well, it's not like that Diving Bell crap! All that Frenchie did was write about his tragic paralysis! In French!
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Yes, The Kite Runner is SOOOO much better.
![Moira](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1256449807p1/1630617.jpg)
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
God these fuckin people who would lay down their lives over this stupid shitty book, I've never seen a..."
Thanks for the psychobabble. I'm so glad there's people running around this site to finger-wag at my tone ... over a book you HAVEN'T read.
![Moira](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1256449807p1/1630617.jpg)
Dude, at this point you are Lillian Hellman and LPM is Mary McCarthy. Give. It. Up. This is going nowhere good for you.
![Michelle](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1367538750p1/512643.jpg)
I loved your review, LPA (even though I gave this book four stars and fall into the sick idiot category. I honestly don't remember what I liked about it.)!
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
![Nicole](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1182918429p1/59744.jpg)
![Paul Bryant](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1224113172p1/416390.jpg)
![Spider the Doof Warrior](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1378350294p1/2348494.jpg)
![Sasha](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1706679707p1/1089240.jpg)
But that's no matter, if that's what you felt when reading it then fine. I guess I would just say that it seems people were offended by your review bc you called lovers of this book sick and idiots, but then you say everyone is entitled to their point of view when people (sometimes rudely in return) have criticized your review. It's you calling the actual supporters of this book, who felt something upon reading it, names, but then getting angry when they respond. Eh, whatever though. I view each book I read as almost like art. It makes us feel different things for different reasons and we are all entitled to feel about each book however we may. Definitely was interesting to see how passionate you are about it though! Happy reading.
![Blondy](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
![Saira](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
![Ben](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1672901937p1/4650601.jpg)
![Sophie](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1398561638p1/7482929.jpg)
![Kenneth P.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1706673338p1/400311.jpg)
My biggest problem with the book is that radical Islam, Pashtun-Taliban fascism is regional. It doesn't come from blonde-headed Germans. It is not rooted in Mein Kampf. It emerged from roots that are part and parcel of Mr. Hosseini's culture. Europe is to blame for many sins but don't blame her for this one. This fascism springs from your own culture Mr. Hosseini. Have the balls to own it.
![L](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1512873031p1/8804500.jpg)
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
![Seth](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1331855633p1/7957688.jpg)
![Atikah Wahid](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1488377032p1/9139351.jpg)
![Martyn](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1487803251p1/4795604.jpg)
Now that just about sums up every cultural problem in society today - the fact that a book or movie has awards bestowed on it by the very same industry that caused it to be made and released into the world in the first place is no objective way to ascertain artistic worth.
Could it be that the book industry gave the 'The Kite Runner' a hat full of awards because not to do so, to a book that they had already decided was going to be a "bestseller" before its release, would have seemed like self flagellation?
Actually, when a book or movie receives a large amount of awards and public praise it usually points to its relative lack of worth, not the other way around. After all the industries are never going to promote marginal interest material (and thus make it general interest) instead they never fail to push hard that which feeds the lowest common denominator - i.e. anything that will please the widest, blandest section of society.
![Martyn](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1487803251p1/4795604.jpg)
Well said.
Bravo."
Thank you LPA! :)
![Paul Bryant](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1224113172p1/416390.jpg)
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
See "Room" by Nora whoever-she-is.
![Martyn](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1487803251p1/4795604.jpg)
Ha! The Booker Prize? Please. How challenging was giving Bring Up the Bodies (second in a dull series) the Booker when a challenging, literary novel like Umbrella was totally ignored? A monetary decision if ever I saw one.
I should thank you for proving my point.
![Jessica](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1283427299p1/777369.jpg)
but Coetzee's 'Disgrace' was well-deserved.
![Paul Bryant](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1224113172p1/416390.jpg)
John Berger
G.
Iris Murdoch
The Sea, the Sea
Penelope Fitzgerald
Offshore
William Golding
Rites of Passage
Salman Rushdie
Midnight's Children
Thomas Keneally
Schindler's Ark
J. M. Coetzee
Life & Times of Michael K
Keri Hulme
The Bone People
Ben Okri
The Famished Road
Michael Ondaatje
The English Patient
James Kelman
How Late It Was, How Late
Arundhati Roy
The God of Small Things
Margaret Atwood
The Blind Assassin
Alan Hollinghurst
The Line of Beauty
John Banville
The Sea
Kiran Desai
The Inheritance of Loss
Anne Enright
The Gathering
Personally have a bad track record with them, but I'm not going to sneer at every Booker winner and claim it's only promoting sure-fire pre-selected industry-friendly best sellers. I think Hilary Mantel is very good - no Samuel Beckett, I grant you, but nothing to be despised. They got criticised for being too highbrow and so in the last couple of years judges have claimed to be emphasising "readability" - that was the word. But that's only latterly.
![Jessica](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1283427299p1/777369.jpg)
(that said, 'The Inheritance of Loss'...well, I couldn't finish it).
![Jessica](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1283427299p1/777369.jpg)
2002 Yann Martel Life of Pi
2003 DBC Pierre Vernon God Little
and Barnes' The Sense of an Ending ?
I don't think so.
![Paul Bryant](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1224113172p1/416390.jpg)
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
....dude there are these things called HOBBIES you know. Try some!