It’s just a little past the midway of 2019, and I think I just read the book of this year. I am glad I was alone in my room while reading ‘The Kite Runner’, because it transported me back to my past, back to my kite-flying days. I am glad because no one was there to see me cry like a baby for thousand times while reading the phrase ‘For you, a thousand times over.’

‘The Kite Runner’ commences with the narration by the central character named Amir at San Francisco in 2001 with kites soaring in the skies. It ends 1 year later with kites in the same skies, but in the meantime, a lot has changed. In the meantime, we are teleported to the past in Kabul, Afghanistan. In the meantime, there were more than a dozen occasions where I wanted to ask: ‘Why Amir?’ and, at times even pound him! With that said, I highly recommend everyone to read the book and see how it all plays out.

Personally, for me, it was an unforgettable story about two friends, Amir and Hassan. A story about friendship, loyalty, pain, childhood abuse, terror, redemption, acceptance, but mostly, what made it unforgettable was the fact that it’s about humanity. The imperfections! And when we are imperfect, we must learn to forgive. Forgive others, but also oneself, which is way harder. As a child, Amir is unable to forgive himself and ridden by this guilt he takes it out on others and ends up hurting himself.

Khaled Hosseini is truly an artist who paints with words. He is able to conjure graphic images and pluck the strings of the heart to tell a tale of a distorted life, full of timidity and cowardice, towards a chance at redemption. To right the wrongs that have been done…‘ there is a way to be good again.’

If you want psychoanalysis or a dissection of the themes used in ‘The Kite Runner’ then you are at a wrong place, my dear friend. I am in an emotional turmoil for the moment and all I can do is to invite you to join me in this mess of feelings.