After posting my review of a Thousand Splendid Suns, I received a message that eagerly recommended The Kite Runner as another masterpiece of Khaled Hosseini. Although I did know how famous The Kite Runner was, I genuinely believed it could not surpass my amazement with A thousand splendid suns, the characters of Mariam and Laila still gracefully spinning around my memory and my mind still associating them with the beauty of courage and love amongst hardship.

Little did I know that the talent and creativity of Khaled Hosseini would manage once again to come up with a powerful narrative as inspiring and captivating as that of those two incredible women, this time depicting the unbreakable boundaries of Hassan and Amir’s heartwarming friendship amidst the imperfections of human behavior and the appalling effects of the Talibans on roots that united their own identities. I usually don’t like sad books or very moving stories but I must admit that the author has a special way of sprinkling his narratives with just the right amount of struggle to make the worthiness of the character’s positive emotions thrive so harmoniously.

The story is narrated by Amir in pre-Talibans Afghanistan as he explores the playfulness and wonder a child makes the most of when trying to forget the bittersweet disregard of a puzzling father, trying to earn his love one prize of kite-flying at a time. Hassan, the son of their servant Ali who grew up with Amir and his father and considered to be part of their family. The bond that they shared from childhood is unbelievably strong as it unfolds through difficulties the unconscious forgiveness of the heart regardless of the manifestation of apologies.

What I really enjoyed while reading this story is Khaled Hosseini’s ability to dig deep into the diversity of human experience to display the commonality of certain fundamental emotions and spiritual journeys. Once again, his surprisingly consistent ability to surprise the reader with the least expected outcomes, usually the ones you wanted to hear about without even knowing it. Ultimately, if there was one word to describe this book: unputdownable. Truly.

A number of main themes are present throughout the whole story: guilt, redemption, friendship, love as well as conflict all within the beautifully assembled scheme of cultural and family values in a country gradually torn apart by intrastate violence. Perhaps what really struck my attention was the implicit presentation of the power of reading by the author as readers get to know his late night childhood rituals of decorticating the content of books, writing stories and aspiring to be a famous writer.

I would not be able to choose between the two books: A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite runner are both incredible stories that I urge everyone to read!