The Book of Eternal Sadness: The Kite Runner

(SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT)
The Kite Runner, a story of a forbidden friendship, betrayal and eternal sadness. This book starts slow buts ends fast. The main characters are Amir, a young Arab boy, and Hassan a young Hazaran servant. (During this time period Hazaras were known as Kofr or infidels. Many people were racist against the Hazaras and during the Taliban, many were killed.) Amir and Hassan were best friends except that Hassan was Amir's servant.

Everyday, Hassan would prepare Amir's breakfast and watch him go to school. In those days, during winter, they would have a kite flying tornument. They would attack each others kites and whosever survived, won. Many children would then try to catch the losing kite because it was an honor to have the kite. The children who tried to catch them were called, Kite Runners. Hassan was a great kite runner. He had a 6th sense and would wait until the kite came his way. Well, Amir and Hassan constructed a beutiful kite and flew it in the tornument. They won and Hassan went off to find the losing kite. After he got it, he was ambushed by the neighborhood bullies. While Hassan was being pummeled, the coward Amir watched as his friend was attacked.

After the ordeal, Hassan began living a quiet lifestyle. He rarely talked with Amir and just did his duties. Amir however, didn't know how to react and just ignored him. Months later during Amir's birthday, he recieved a new watch and lots of money. For some reason, Amir stuffed his new watch and some money into Hassan's sleeping matress and told his dad the Hassan stole it. Thus, this ended their friendship and began the sadness.

Later in the book, when Amir is an adult, Amir gets a call from one of his father's friends still living in Afghanistan. Amir finds out that Hassan was his half-brother and he had a son who was kidnapped by the Taliban forces and begins to find a way to get him back. At the end, Amir has Sohrab, Hassan's son, and is living happily in America.

This book I think, is a book of sadness and guilt. The dam of sadness and guilt breaks when Amir betrays Hassan. I believe that this book will be very hard for many readers because, many haven't experienced such guilt or sadness. If you are a reader looking for a challenge, this is a good one.