La Petite Américaine's Reviews > The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner
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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 201-250 of 265 (265 new)
![Zahra](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)
Did you join Goodreads just for me?? I'm honored! :-D
![Amith Ghosh](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1621188446p1/62074050.jpg)
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Interesting you found it bold and realistic. I think one of my biggest problems with it (one of the 9372626 problems I had with it, anyway) was that it was heavy handed and unrealistic to the point of ridiculousness, and the "tragic" elements were there for shock value and emotional manipulation, which millions of readers confused for "good writing." Ugh.
![Queenie](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1561878720p1/33746852.jpg)
There are good
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
So glad someone else hates this book as much as I do. :)
![Proxima Centauri](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1462115947p1/46117422.jpg)
This book is loved by people all over the world because the struggle of the Afghan people is still relevant, and is justly represented in this book. Partly because Khaled Hosseini, despite being safe in the US and away from the conflict still experiences the pain of seeing his home being reduced to a field of massacre and oppression. I don't think being 'a wealthy outsider' renders the struggle of seeing everything you know and love being destroyed, even from afar, invalid.
Especially since he's used his privilege not only to keep himself safe (would you blame him?) but has helped numerous fellow Afghans affected by the conflict.
I honestly respect your not liking this book, for it being overcliched, badly written, etc. However what I don't think you have the right to do is to call it 'shit'. I'm not 'sick' for liking it. I don't completely empathise with Amir's struggles but as a Middle-Eastern reader coming from a country with a very similar culture to Afghanistan, this book moved me because I have also been shaped by my heritage, by the political unrest in my country, by my upbringing in a very traditional yet in some ways quite western household, and im in many ways a microcosm into the good, the bad and the ugly that is my heritage and culture, just as Amir is his own. I also found this 'inspirational' and 'moving' because I was glad that Afghanistan finally has a voice that can reach people outside of the war zone with the intention of encouraging them to find beauty in everything and everyone flawed and to echo something that is sometimes the Afghan people's only reason to go on is that Life Goes On, we have to move with it, adapt, move forward, grow.
I understand that it is not 'literature', strictly speaking. But I don't know exactly what the criteria is for a great literary feat so I'll just say that I think it is a great storytelling feat and the only criteria for that is that it has transported some people back to their past, some to a world they had never considered exploring before, some just because it was engaging and heartbreaking, and when something moves your heart, sorry to sound cheesy but I think that's as valid as something mentally stimulating or written in conventionally perfect prose.
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Thanks for your thoughts.
Wouldn't take my review too seriously -- wrote it in 2006 after a night out at the wine bars. Oh to be 26 again.
![Anushka Mazumdar](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Scroll up and read the comment directly above yours in this thread.
Glad you liked the book.
![Gwendolyn B.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1579761394p1/77236451.jpg)
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
LOL, reader-shaming!! That's hilarious!! :) And to think that I wrote that review 10 years ago...I was so ahead of my time! A true progressive! :)
![Gwendolyn B.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1579761394p1/77236451.jpg)
It's probably a good thing that I'm new to GR, although I'm sure that 10 years from now, I'll be reading my old reviews and lamenting, "Was I ever so young??" :-D
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Hahah, in the case of this review, young *and* drunk. :)
Ahhh it was so fun to be in my 20s. :)
![Fay](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Look at the publish date. You were probably still in diapers when a drunken 26 year-old posted this review to goodreads. You're the only one who cares. :)
Thanks for pushing my review up in the ranks with your comment though.
![Chinyimba Mando](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1534333692p1/22322536.jpg)
![Noah Crocker](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1583016294p1/91837306.jpg)
Now, I have never actually read the book, but I came here from your review on "The Book Thief," I believe it was. Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't just create this profile to comment on your review. This is my one, and only profile. However, La Petite Américaine, I do want to comment on your review for a couple of reasons.
1) I really admire your ability to deal with these people. It is incredible how people feel as if an opinion of a book affects them personally. "Oh my goodness, she insulted my favorite book, I have to come up with an insult!" I honestly believe that people have a RIGHT TO THEIR OWN DAMN OPINION. If you don't like it, that's fine, move on. It's called a belief for a reason, people.
2) However, as idiotic as some people may be, I do believe that to be a good opinion, you have to have a certain amount of respect. A good opinion entitles, in my opinion, A. Acknowledging the good parts of the book, and B. Showing/proving how and why the good outweighs the bad. I did feel as if this review was a bit one-sided, but I can't be sure. It could just be a god-awful book, through and through, I wouldn't know.
3) I do have to say, I admire your debating skills. I think of debate as an art, and you are obviously skilled. I hope someday to be as skilled at debate, and at analysing literature as you are.
Now, I know this comment isn't very good, and lacks proper grammar. I am a middle-school student, please cut me some slack.
That's all I have to say. I do hope to read the book soon, as it would give me an opportunity to contribute to this discussion further.
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Now, I have never actually read the book, but I came here from your revi..."
Was surprised that you’re a middle school student. (Actually, in retrospect, I’m not, that was always my favorite age level to teach, especially when the kids care and put actual thought and logic into their arguments). In any case, your comment is above the maturity level and writing skill abilities of any middle schooler (and most adults) who leave comments on my reviews. And thank you too for taking the time to comment.
A) Agreed.
B) Also agreed, but look at the review in its full context (i.e., date it was written, circumstances - you’ll find in the comment thread) and realize it shouldn’t be taken too seriously.
C) Ty. You’re already talented at forming a logical argument. There’s no reason to conclude you’re not already talented at analysis and debate. Keep at it. Good skill to have. ;)
![Kristina Coop-a-Loop](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1690733841p1/4272284.jpg)
Aside from all the other stuff I bitch about in my 1,000+ word review, it is GRIEF PORN. I hate that stuff. This book reminds me so much of The Book Thief, even down to the prose style and certain phrases: "buttermilk sky" and "A smile. Lopsided. Hardly there. But there." Fucking awful. But thank you so much for your review!
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Ty ;)
![Murielle](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1647433441p1/65390804.jpg)
BUT, I do like the book. I don't like Amir though. He completely lost me when he didn't try to save Hassan. What I did like about the book was the war. How it affected people, how they were living before and after it, the heart wrenching state of some people Amir encounters... this is what I liked about the book.
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
BUT, I do like the book. I don't like Amir though. He completely los..."
I wrote the review like 12 years ago after a night at the wine bars in Europe. Nothing wrong with liking the book, despite what my 26 year-old wasted self may have written. :)
![Shouvik](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Settle down.
![Kristina Coop-a-Loop](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1690733841p1/4272284.jpg)
Someone's in a lather.
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Over something written in 2007 no less. Hope it was worth it.
![Shouvik](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
Sure, considering you haven't decided to edit it
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Why should I edit it? Because you don’t like it? Because it offends you? 😂
You haven’t been on goodreads that long if you seriously think I, of all people on here, am going to change so much as a typo in a review simply because someone else doesn’t like it. 😂
![Shouvik](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
Very narcissistic tendencies. Ever considered therapy?
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Whoa! ‘Narcissistic’? How original! Not like that’s the most over-used term of the past year or anything. 😂
Who’s more narcissistic? The chick who won’t change the review that’s been up for 12 years because someone else is offended by it, or the person who demands that the world conform to his sensibilities and accuses anyone who doesn’t of being a narcissist? Lol, genius, really.
Anyway, hate to break it to you, but there’s this thing in America that guarantees people the right to free speech, even if it offends other people. You might wanna look into it, it’s kinda important. 😂
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Anyway, kid, you’ve been a member for like a couple of years. I’ve been posting on here since 2007 — keep up with the personal attacks, the moral outrage, etc. if you want (it’s your time to waste 😂), but trust me when I saw you’re not unique, hardly the first 😂 and aren’t going to win this. 😂
![Shouvik](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
Your response is pretty immature, doesn't matter your age. If you think your review stands as it is after 12 years then getting comments on it is also fair after 12 years.
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
What part of my comment is immature? The part where I’m right?
Sheesh! First I was a narcissist, now I’m immature. 😂
Anyway, last time I checked, it’s a site to review books, not attack the reviewer for having a different opinion than you. 😂
By all means, though, keep at it: every comment you out here just pushes my review further up in the rankings, so whatever you want bro.
![Shouvik](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
Happy to help with the rankings.
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Quite the brainpower for detecting nuance, I see. (Again, now who’s the narcissist?) Thanks for the “help.” 😂
Run along now and write a review of your own.
![Kristina Coop-a-Loop](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1690733841p1/4272284.jpg)
People are nuts. Why is it the most strident opinions against opposing opinions never take the time to write their own damn reviews? Nuts.
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Seriously.
Sad.
![Shouvik](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
Yeah, everything is sad as long as it doesn't fit with the worldview of that particular person.
![La Petite Américaine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1218985191p1/59329.jpg)
Now you’re just using the comment thread on my review for your own entertainment because you’re bored, sad, whatever I don’t care.
You’ve got 3 mins left before I block you.
![Kristina Coop-a-Loop](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1690733841p1/4272284.jpg)
You've been much more patient than I would have been. This person has some issues and/or is just intellectually stunted. Block on!
Come on. You were sanctimonious and judgmental about my review when you haven't even read more than 30 pages of the book.
When I suggested you scroll up a couple of comments in the thread to get context for the review -- i.e., a better idea of where the review came from -- you said no. Fine, but spare me your comments when you
a) don't have context
b) haven't read the book
Finish the book and get back to me. Maybe.