I just started and finished this book on Monday while flying home. Absolutely wonderful read. I am not going to critique it and its positions. I felt that it was a wonderfully human story and totaly recommend it.

The thought manifests as the word
The word manifests as the deed
The deed develops into habit
And the habit hardens into character
So watch the thoughts and its ways with care
As we think, so we become.


somebody said that..

Wasif20. I'll make is short and sweet. Try seeing the comparative examples of movies i mentioned. That should make it clear what i wanted to communicate. The author's ommission and inclusion are needed to serve the purpose of the particular storyline he is interested in and not the other way around.

Disagreement is lovely and no debate takes place without that. However, you are trying to see in book what is not there or not supposed to be there. And i do believe in good and bad,right and wrong.

Truly glad someone responded with their analysis. Calling my opinion ?nonsense? probably not the way to begin a friendly debate. Next time try ?I disagree? and if a respondent gets nasty stick it to ?em.

Heres what I said: ?the author seems overly concerned with making the political backdrop of the book fit into what is expected by "western readers".? ?political backdrop? is the term I used. I never said the novel is about the war. I don?t agree with you saying the novel doesn?t have a political tint. If the author wished he could have mentioned the war without the selected background info ? choosing to add that ?political tint?. Notice, there is even a political tint in the information he chose to add and what he chose to omit.

1. ?? he lived in the USA and has had his education there that was able to express himself so well in English. Each afghan's life (the ones i have met in pakistan and the USA) is a story in itself- but how many have the education, the ability to put that into words? ? This is a very interesting point albeit unrelated. Never thought of that. However, in bringing up the fact that he left when he was 15, and that he was among the elite, I made the assumption that he doesn?t know much about the majority of people of Afghanistan ? from the poorer, rural class.

2. I felt that the ?average? afghan ? meaning the poorer class, wasn?t portrayed as much as it could have been. If you mean Hassan, then I don?t think the servant of a rich man counts. But, you may be right that there was some portrayal ? the only one that comes to mind is the driver who brought Amir over from Pakistan.

3. ?produced at the idiotic factory and packaged in BAIS.? You?re quite a poet. The book makes it seem like the US was a wonderful friend to Afghanistan during its time of need. I read that the US had a little more hand in what was going on in Afghanistan during these particular times than the author let on. I don?t think the US was in Afghanistan, ?helping?, out of the goodness of their hearts as much as it was to combat the USSR ? call me cynical. US had an ally there ? cant quite remember his name, something Laden. The US wasn?t on very friendly terms with the Northern Alliance ? ties with the communist occupation attempts may have had something to do with that. A situation that changed quickly after the Taliban needed to be deposed. Didn?t find it in the book. My cynical nature tells me its because the book was geared to please Western readers.
In fact my opinion was based on asking people ? particularly women but not exclusively ? what they felt about the Taliban and their experiences in Afghanistan. Read a little bit here and there, and sort of got the impression (from the people I spoke with and BBC news, Dawn) that what I had been seeing in the Western media ? probably not too accurate. Again I will state, that I am no big fan of the Taliban, but it was a guess on my part that not every member of that group is a freakish, murderous, pedophile. I got this from listening to peoples comments after the author?s speech. ?I didn?t know Afghanistan was such a modern country.? I heard that over and over again. Correct me if I am wrong but even before the Russian invasion, Afghanistan wasn?t entirely the most modern country in the world (excluding Kabul). The outlying areas were still a tad bit rural. Im not Afghan, Never been there, I wasnt even a twinkle in anyone's eye when this book started - so if you have personal experience, you will definitely have more light to shed than I ever will.

5. Hmmm nice demographic analysis. So when there is a Pakistani/Indian Concert or Show in Fairfax, VA, and the audience is filled with only South Asian people, I will come to the obvious conclusion that there are no white people in the Northern Virginia area. My comment was based on an assumption that an Afghan author would attract people of that region. 20 (afghans) out of 1800 (total) is probably not a good representation of the amount of afghans or Persians or Pakistanis or other Middle Eastern peoples that live in this area that would hopefully be interested. Good spin though, worthy of Bill O?reilly or Rush Limbaugh?

I do not mind debating the aspects of this book ? I was hoping to hear people?s opinions. Shockingly enough, I hear more than one opinion is allowed to exist in the world on any particular subject. Even though ?no offense intended? your tone was a little acerbic, so I responded in kind. I gave my opinion on the book, you gave yours. Right and wrong is not even in my purview ? by all means continue with the conversation. I will be totally civil if you will.

?book is analyzed so badly? Thanks, glad that when someone doesn?t agree with you they ?did bad?.

Kiterunner is more like the movie Butterfly (butterfly tongues)Lengua de las mariposas set in the Spanish Civil war in Galicia. It's not the Bridge on the River Kwai or the Birth of a Nation.

What nonsense! Wasif20.

The novel was written with hardly any political tint to it. It's not one of those novels with a political agenda trying to portay one side better than the other. Neither was it an attempt at explaining history. When a story is set in a war context or in a war-trodden country, it doesn't mean that story is ABOUT war or anything related to that.
Now let's see have a disection of your comments:

1. The author left afghanistan when he was 15 years old and lived in luxury all that while. Yes, thats exactly why he was able to feel the difference between what afghanistan was and what it is now. Plus, it was also due to the fact that he lived in the USA and has had his education there that was able to express himself so well in English. Each afghan's life (the ones i have met in pakistan and the USA) is a story in itself- but how many have the education, the ability to put that into words?

2. The author generalized his own life to the rest of the Afghans (Wasif). Where do u get that idea from? Yes, the author portrays a certain class of Afghans but he never claimed thats how all afghans lived like. And the story starts at that time when that particular class of afghans would have a life like that and moves on to how it changes after the wars. All along you see the contrast between the rich guy and the common afghan. That was infact one of the basic premises the story was based on.

3. Pro- america (Wasif). Now thats complete nonsense produced at the idiotic factory and packaged in BAIS. Just because the main character starts living in the states and makes a good life there doesn't in any way portray the author's attempt at promoting american foreign policy.

4. Taliban were portrayed as bad guys while they actually developed infrastructure. Well, Taliban ..most of them..were the offpsring of the mujahideen and the mujahideen did make an honest attempt at getting rid of the Russian occupation and quite a successful one. But its a sad story of how lack of knowledge can turn good intentions into bad behaviour. And about infrastructure. Taliban destroyed all that was related to progress and development because they mistook it for western influence. Instead of making baseless statements , its better to read some history or better still meet Afghans and ask them- the ones who were there.

5. Somewhere were wasif attended a conference or a meetup with the author , most attendees were white old ladies and only a couple of afghans were present. Now now now.. tell me whats the ratio of Afghans to White old ladies in that region on teh whole? I think it doesn't take a genius to work this one out.

No offense intended Wasif. Neither was this an attempt to say 'i am right, you are wrong'. I just can't take it when a book is analyzed so badly.

Thank god that someone stepped up to highlight the Positive AND Negative points in the book!!! Yes I definitely liked the book but I was so tired of people discussing it with such awe.... There are just so many more books far more worthy of praise. The way the media is this day, bad enough muslims are portrayed the way they are, its a little more annoying when another muslim caters to western whims. I agree the ending was well done. But man, the not too subtle irony of the slingshot/Asseff/Amir scene and Asseff's relations with Hassan and then his son 20 years later - a little bit much for me.

I went to hear the author speak and heard ppl rave about this book. I just finished reading the book. It?s a good emotionally gripping story but I took issue with him trying to weave so much political bias in the story. The book was catering to the current political power-brokers. I thought it definitely portrayed practicing Muslims in a very negative light. Even the description of prayer seemed to be written by a non-Muslim. I liked the ending ? not like just another Hindi film. Overall, it?s not a bad novel for his first.

BTW I did not hate everything about this book nor do I have a cynical nature. There were some positive points too. The author didn't mind making the "hero" almost loathsome for the first half of the book. I can respect that. He highlighted the tribal instincts of the land - that need to detest the "other" (hazaras were just one of those Others in reality). The good points have already been highlighted again and again. I wanted to discuss the other aspects of the book which haven't been touched on.

Guljaana, I did check out the other JE's about this upon the urging of an earlier poster... I was very surprised at the majority of the comments that I would definitely qualify as gushing.... Two people out of a hundred JE's had anything at all negative to say about this book. Very surprising because the book seemed amateurish. One of those JE's(by Mansur) sort of stated that this book was in fact written to succeed in the post-911 climate. Totally and completely agree with that. I am astonished beyond belief that more muslims here did not pick that up. In reality, the guy left Afghanistan when he was 15, went back for a visit - and his 15 years there were spent in luxury - he probably doesn't really know the "real" life of Afghanistan. Only his life. He portrayed his individual experiences as matching that of most or all people of Afghanistan. Misrepresentations? No mention of the U.S. staunch support and alliance of the Taliban - and the bitter wars that the U.S. fought with the Northern Alliance (kind of the opposite of today). My guess is he didn't put it in there because Americans hate hearing it or acknowledging it. I am not at all a supporter of Taliban, I do not subscribe to their brand of Islam, BUT they created the only infrastructure in a country ravaged by war for 30 years (and continuing). All Afghans did not despise them. Just a guess, but I assume that every member of the Taliban isn't a child raping black-hearted bastard. Did certain people there abuse power? Of course - much like in every other country. In the audience when he spoke were an overwhelmingly large number of older white women. When the author asked for Afghans to show themselves, 20 people out of 2000 raised their hand. That demographic speaks volumes to me. The cynical part of me says that perhaps people who actually lived there might not be too keen on his writing. I enjoyed the story, but the author seems overly concerned with making the political backdrop of the book fit into what is expected by "western readers". If he tried to write a book with more truth to it, it would not have been on any best seller list. If I tried to pick out all the misconceptions perpetuated by this book, this JE would turn even longer. I am surprised my opinion is so uncommon in this forum that is majority muslim. LOL no signed copy for me, thanks.

Wasif have a look at the other entry about this book. You will find some heartwarming, some thoughtprovoking comments.

What particular aspects mentioned in the book about the culture/politics and Afghans or Afghanistan do you think amount to misrepresentation?

btw, did you get your copy signed by him?

rahat;# you dont look like the type that goes by rules?

C-stine, I don't believe there are any rules regarding that yet. : P

rahat!!!!!!!! please ..how many times do i have to tell you duyde!!!! put a shirt on and your tongue back in its proper place !! jeeeeze!! ;#)

Hey Sorry Rahat, just a sarcastic joke on my part. Totally apologize. I had earlier thought I posted a response to your comments stating something like ?Thanks for letting me know about the previous discussion. I would not have known since I recently joined this village and Naseeb does not seem to have search functions beyond userid?s.? That makes it difficult to go back and check to see if a topic you posted has been posted in the past. With this topic, though, there must be lots of recent readers who may want to discuss this book. Either way I publicly apologize for my comment ? a poor joke.

whatever man. I said no offense.

Foxglove, I wouldn't qualify my statement as raving. The best I can say for the book is that its a worthy read. Poetic justice was a bit overdone in this book, but if you're a big fan of it you might overflow with joy at some of the scenes from this book.

Bnkhan, definitely agree with you that the author wrote his book in an effort to attract Western readers/appease them etc. That is not a jaded view - Hosseini himself made it clear while in his speech that I was present at (at George Mason University) when he gave a brief synapsis of the past two decades of Afghanistan's history and completely brushing aside the United State's role there except as "saviors" after Sept. 11th. And for me at least, that poor interpretation of history detracts from an otherwise good story (again I am not raving).

OH WAIT GUYS, maybe we shouldn't be having this discussion since it was already discussed 4 months prior..... doh!!!!

I am obsessed with poetic justice too... That's it, I have to read this book and see what makes everyone rave...

Celestine, the Champions League Final was class :) Even when we were 3-0 down, I had a strong gut feeling that we would still beat AC Milan... and we did!

Book had me interested for a while.. However, at time I didn't want to continue reading it as it started to become predictable but finished it.. I agree the view he presented of afghan culture post war and it?s similarity with western media/politician?s portrayal was just another way to attracted reader from the west and sell more copies. I rightly predicted the end so last pages were not so satisfying for me.