Every once in a while there is a novel that comes along and redefines everything you thought you knew about life.The truth is that when a book of this nature is birthed into the world, nothing will ever be the same and the people who choose to read the story woven within the pages are changed forever. A compelling story can make a statement about the physical landscape of the life we all as human beings live out on earth. However, few books in the world are able to make a strong enough statement that it is ready to indeed become larger than itself. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel that will leave a handprint on both your heart and your head long after the last page has been read. The book tells the story of the unlikely friendship between two young boys named Amir and Hassan from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul.
The novel is able to communicate and demonstrate how one relationship can intertwine two remarkably different people for the rest of their lives. Although the book itself is historical fiction, the story offers an incredibly moving and potent commentary about life; As well as what it means to live beautifully in the midst of the world full of uncertainty and hardship. In all honesty, I do not believe that I personally have ever experienced anything like The Kite Runner before in all my years as a reading addict. There were times where I found myself equally disturbed, moved to tears or lost for words due to the truth and beauty depicted within the story.
Hosseini wrote with so much honesty and compassion behind every word and is one of the most exquisite and humbling novels I have ever read in my life. There is a reason this story has had the opportunity to sit on the New York Times Bestsellers List, and it definitely is deserving of the honor.The novel is not afraid of asking the hard questions about life, and the reader is left with no choice but to respond. Nothing about this story is sugarcoated in any way shape or form. All of the evidence of what happens within the pages is right there for the reader to read and imagine.
The Kite Runner was a novel that caught me off guard in every way that possibly could have. I did not expect this particular book to influence my life in the way that it has, and I definitely did not anticipate falling in love with the story as much as I have. This story was able to simultaneously rip my heart out only to thrust it back into my body a few paragraphs later having caused a sensation of excavating pain at times. Therefore It is due to the simultaneously beautiful and at times horrific truth found within the story that I give the Kite Runner five stars.
Now, as far as the film adaptation is concerned that is a different story. The film that carries the same title as the source material has some differences in comparison to the novel itself. However, the film still manages to capture the overall spirit of Hosseini’s thought-provoking narrative. Personally, I will never be watching this movie again merely because I do not believe that the adaptation does the novel as much justice as it should. The Kite Runner, as a story aims to communicate a particular message about the complexity that exists when it comes to human relationships among other things. This is something that the novel does beautifully. However, I believe that the film adaptation aims to communicate a different message than the novel. While this does not necessarily discredit the film as worthy of a viewing, it does present a slight problem if a reader is looking for an accurate visual representation of their reading experience projected onto the individualized viewing screens. With all of this to consider I would give the film adaptation of The Kite Runner two and a half stars.