The Kite Runner Summary: Plot, Characters and Themes of Khaled Hosseini's Novel
What The Kite Runner is about
The Kite Runner is the debut novel of Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. It was published in 2003 by Riverhead Books. The story follows Amir, a boy from a wealthy family in the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul. It moves through decades of upheaval in Afghanistan, from the collapse of the monarchy to the Soviet intervention of 1979, the exodus of Afghan refugees and the rise of the Taliban.
The first part takes place in a Kabul that is still peaceful. Amir spends his days kite fighting with Hassan, the son of his father's servant. Hassan is a gifted kite runner. He knows where a cut kite will land without even watching it. Amir badly wants the approval of his father, Baba, and finally earns it on the day he wins the local kite-fighting tournament. That same day, something happens to Hassan that Amir sees and fails to stop. The friendship does not survive it.
Later sections follow Amir and Baba as they flee to Pakistan and then to California, where Amir builds an adult life. Years afterwards, a call from an old family friend pulls him back towards the country he left. The friend tells him, "There is a way to be good again."
The book suits readers who want character-led literary fiction set against real history. It has long been a book club favourite. Be aware that it deals with sexual violence against a child, public executions and a suicide attempt.
The main characters
Amir is a well-to-do Pashtun boy who loves writing. He is jealous of the affection his father shows Hassan. He grows up to become a novelist.
Hassan is a Hazara boy and Amir's constant companion. He is loyal and brave. He once defends Amir from a bully by threatening him with a slingshot.
Baba is Amir's father, a wealthy merchant. He loves both boys and even pays for surgery to correct Hassan's cleft lip. He criticises Amir for not being masculine enough.
Ali is Baba's live-in servant and Hassan's father.
Rahim Khan is Baba's closest friend. He understands Amir better than Baba does and encourages his writing.
Assef is an older boy with a sadistic taste for violence. He mocks Amir for spending time with a Hazara and swears revenge after Hassan stands up to him.
Soraya Taheri is a fellow Afghan refugee Amir meets at a flea market in San Jose. She becomes his wife.
The themes
Fathers and sons. Hosseini has said he considers The Kite Runner a story about a father and son relationship. Amir's need for Baba's approval drives much of what he does as a boy. Rahim Khan offers him a gentler kind of fathering.
Guilt and redemption. These are the book's central concerns. One failure of courage in childhood stays with Amir for twenty years. The second half is about whether he can make amends.
Class and ethnicity. Amir is Pashtun and the son of a rich man. Hassan is Hazara and the son of a servant. Assef's contempt for Hazaras shows how deep that divide runs. The friendship between the boys is real, but it is never equal.
Friendship and identity. The novel asks what loyalty means when one friend gives far more than the other. It also follows Amir's life as a refugee in America, selling used goods at a flea market and making a new home far from Kabul.
The full plot and ending (spoilers)
Stop here if you want to read the novel fresh.
On the day of the tournament, Hassan runs for the last cut kite and meets Assef in an alleyway. Hassan refuses to hand over the kite. Assef beats and rapes him. Amir watches but is too scared to step in. Afterwards, consumed by guilt, Amir pushes Hassan away. He frames Hassan for theft, and Hassan falsely confesses. Baba forgives him, but Hassan and Ali leave for Hazarajat.
In America, Baba works at a petrol station and later dies of cancer shortly after Amir marries Soraya. The couple struggle to have children. Fifteen years after the wedding, a dying Rahim Khan summons Amir to Peshawar. He reveals that Hassan was killed after refusing to let the Taliban take Baba's house in Kabul. He also reveals that Ali was sterile. Hassan was Baba's son, which makes him Amir's half brother.
Rahim Khan asks Amir to rescue Hassan's son, Sohrab, from an orphanage in Kabul. Amir learns a Taliban official has taken the boy. The official turns out to be Assef, who beats Amir with brass knuckles. Sohrab saves him by shooting out Assef's eye with his father's slingshot. Delays over adoption leave Sohrab so frightened that he attempts suicide. Amir eventually brings him to the United States with Soraya's help, but the boy stays withdrawn.
In the final scene, at a park where Afghans are flying kites, Amir and Sohrab win a kite fight using one of Hassan's favourite tricks. Sohrab smiles for the first time. Amir runs the kite for him, just as Hassan once did for Amir.
Why it still matters
The Kite Runner became a bestseller once it came out in paperback, helped by its popularity with book clubs. It spent over two years on the New York Times best-seller list and sold over seven million copies in the United States. Reviews were generally positive. Parts of the plot caused significant controversy in Afghanistan.
The story has been adapted many times. There is a 2007 film of the same name, several stage productions and a graphic novel. Hosseini also narrates a multi-CD audiobook.
For many readers the novel was a first look at Afghan life before the wars, seen through one family across three decades. It pairs that history with a personal story about guilt and repair, and that combination is a large part of why it is still widely read and taught.
