Kite Runner: A Best Seller Worthy of the Name

Everyone has been talking about The Kite Runner for years - at least since its release in 2002. In my opinion, everyone has not talked about it enough.

It is literary. For "literary" one could substitute words like "original," "well written," "smart," "experimental in structure," "important for a better understanding between peoples both nationally and culturally." Because it is such a significant book -for humankind and for the world- I begged my editor at MyShelf.com, Brenda Weeaks, to let me review it. She agreed to make an exception to her rule of publishing reviews of only newly copyrighted books.

Of course, she is right. New books are news. Old books are, well, old. The thing is, Khaled Hosseini's Kite Runner will not get stale. As long as the world is full of prejudice, war, persecution, hatred, and wrong-thinking, there will be a place for it just as there continues to be a place for books like Dr. Zhivago and War and Peace.

Contrary to what many say, I believe Americans are starved to know more about countries everywhere. We live with only two neighbors within easy reach, rather like isolated survivors on an island, and even those we don't know well because our island is so big, because we are so busy, and because our education system does little to prepare us in the ways of politics (we haven't had civics classes in decades), geography or languages other than English (the roots that feed understanding of others).

Books - books with great themes, books that are grounded in little-known cultures - can be our saviors. Books like East of Kabul by Tamin Ansary to the rescue. And now of course, Kite Runner. Hosseini chooses his main narrator carefully. He's a US emigrant from Afghanistan with such an honest view of himself we can do nothing but trust his assessment of Afghanistan. We therefore are appalled by what it has suffered in the last few decades and get a pretty good idea of the dangers it faces.

Don't misunderstand. This is not a book that preaches. It is a book of full of personal growth and hope. With understanding and knowledge also comes optimism for the future of Afghanistan and its neighbors - possibly even for the world - but only if enough of us care enough to open our eyes and read.