Hosseini's Kabul

The Kite Runner



Hmmm... Now what do I think about it ?!

It was a story of sadness suffering repentance acceptance forgiveness and blah and blah and blah. I know it was supposed to be a great book and all but it just did not move me. It was like a local language serial that moves on and on with twists and turns and the storyline seemed like all the hardships and difficulties in the world will come down and blowup on the central characters of the novel.



I know it's a very serious novel and has touched many hearts and I apologize for so vehemently criticizing the novel.

Yes, I pity the hardships the characters faced. Yes many of them are terrible and have happened in real life too and war has destroyed many lives and homes. I agree.



But what makes me criticize is that the spirit of the book. It didn't feel genuine. It didn't feel like it was written to show out the suffering or to speak of human values. It seemed like it was aimed at making you cry so that it can be a best-seller. Well I didn't shed a tear. Not because I am heartless. Just because it didn't touch my heart.



A Thousand Splendid Suns



I love the title. Even more so how the title came to be. It's beautiful. This touched my heart. Period

The rest of the novel didn't seem to move me. In fact for most of the book I didn't follow why the story is happening. It started off well. But then, it just went on and on and it ended somewhere. I didn't even feel like it had an ending or what the book was supposed to be about. I failed to see it.



Bottom line: I can't appreciate Khaled Hosseini. I guess I shouldn't be reading his books.

Comments

  1. Just because it didn't touch my heart.


    Dont you feel left out.. The trick is to make yourself believe that it did affect you... It may be fake... but reality is not real unless you have fakeness... I dont even know what that means...

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  2. @puppet
    But you n i are never "left out" are we ??
    We are always different..! :)

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  3. Shhhh... not so loud!!

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  4. 2 fairy:

    I dunno if u managed to read thru the kite runner, I couldn read more than half of the book, I lost interest in every way possible.

    it kinda made me yawn//

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  5. @madman
    yes it was difficult to go through with it till the end...

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  6. Bottom line: I can't appreciate Khaled Hosseini. I guess I shouldn't be reading his books.


    why do U go ahead and write a post about, I mean why waste google's space.


    n ya,
    the kite runner got all popular n all, so this guy came out with another book befor people forgot kite runner so that he cud use the name to earn money.


    this is wat movi stars do, they sign new movies befor the current one releases.

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  7. @madman
    not wastage of google space.. its a warning to mankind :D

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  8. ya ya, you need to do ur share to the society too..

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  9. @madman
    of course.. it's given me a madman after all...

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  10. it's given me a madman after all...


    awwww, thats too sweet.

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  11. @madman
    aint i just a sweetheart

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  12. Hi,

    Much as I surely appreciate and respect your views, I differ entirely from them! We have to be there to feel what went on. It's no attempt to make people cry or anything!

    The world has become such that we fail to differentiate fiction from reality. We aren't able to get/appreciate things at times, because we can't even begin to fathom the depths they are at! It wouldn't even begin to look genuine to us, because not even in our wildest imagination can we 'see' anything so ghastly happen!

    Khalid writes not to make someone cry or to beget best sellers, or even impress people with his writing style or story telling but just to show to the world, glimpses of what's going on with their counterparts somewhere around. It's 'the' reality, and he needn't make it 'seem' genuine!

    He probably didn't succeed in impressing you and many others because he let it be subtle, and didn't add any bit of melodrama to it. It's more a narration than a story--a statement of what what went on, and still is, with the lives of people in Afghanistan, and maybe many such places in the world. This is how it is with them...it goes on and on and ends somewhere. Life doesn't give people grand endings of life 'bestseller style'!

    His 'story' and 'writing style' are mere mediums to put forth what he does, and he keeps them plain as can be, to let what matters stand out.

    You may wanna give 'Zoya's Story' a try...or even visit rawa.org

    Well, I strayed over to your review, and couldn't but write you here! Please bear with it...or delete it if you may!

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  13. Hello Sheen

    Welcome to my blog. I recognize you as the person who recommended A Thousand Splendid Suns to Jam. Do come by occasionally.

    Firstly, I appreciate different points of view. I enjoy an occasional debate as well. So be assured that I shall not delete your comment. And I thank you for it and for introducing me to rawa.org. I shall take try reading Zoya's Story sometime in the future. I also understand your feelings and I am glad to have met someone who has such strong emotional opinions. You are correct when you speak about the Afghanistani women. Yes, we were not there and we cannot even image the conditions.

    Now coming to Khaled Hosseini:
    I have as uncanny way of being able to differentiate genuine from fake when it comes to writing. I have always just had a feeling while I read this book that the author did not feel for the cause as much as he wants the reader to feel. But I did not check if I was correct when I wrote this post (or I just don't remember since it is 2 years ago). I just checked wikipedia now. Please know that not just you and I, Khaled Hosseini was not there either!
    He spent roughly 8 years in pre-Soviet peaceful Afghan and below the age of 10. He has not seen/been victim/been witness to the Afghan in the book. I still am sure he cares for the cause a lot. Yet, I still feel that he wrote books for the western society and to make them best-sellers (like Slumdog Millionare for example).

    Surprising Part
    And while I was checking wiki before commenting, I also realized that the only thing that touched be about the book was not his own! The title "A Thousand Splendid Suns" was taken from Josephine Davis translation of the poem "Kabul" by the 17th-century Iranian poet Saib-e-Tabrizi !!!

    Conclusion
    So no. i do not think he wrote for the reasons you mentioned. I think he wrote it simply to be the best seller. Though I m glad he did make a difference to you and many others. Sadly, I cannot see past his flaws. Hence, I do not appreciate.

    PS: He was not subtle. In fact he was in deed too melodramatic. Hence, the comparison to local television serials!!!

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