Lets find a way to be good again

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Kicking off with a flashback, it is the journey of a boy, Amir, who gets the chance to overcome his guilt of not being able to save his friend, Hassan, by saving the life of his friend's child, Jamal, held captive by the Talibans in Afghanistan

CJ: kusum

Sat, Oct 31, 2009 10:42:57 IST

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IT HAS been written with such finesse that it is difficult to comprehend it’s the first book by Khaled Hosseini. A doctor by profession, Khaled was born in monarchic Afghanistan and left the country when the Soviet Union invaded it. He completed his education in the United States. It is conspicuous that the book is a result of the writer’s own experience, so much so that you tend to see a high degree of commonality between the protagonist and the writer. Supposedly, it is the first work of fiction on Afghanistan by a native writer.

Kicking off with a flashback, it is the journey of a boy, Amir, who gets the chance to overcome his guilt of not being able to save his friend, Hassan, by saving the life of his friend’s child, Jamal, held captive by the Talibans in Afghanistan.

The narrative starts with the childhood friendship of two kids coming from different class and community - Amir and Hassan. Amir is the son of a rich and a proud father from the dominant Pashtun community while Hassan is a Hazara boy, son of a domestic help of Amir’s family. They play together, watch films together and fly kites. But Amir’s life changes when Hassan gets sodomised by a Pashtun boy and even after getting a chance to save Hassan, Amir does not does not do so.

After the incident, he wallows in guilt and avoids Hassan and stops talking and playing with him. With Amir’s father having always shown more confidence in Hassan’s skills and behaviour, Amir becomes envious of Hassan and accuses him of stealing. The story unfolds with Hassan leaving Amir’s place with his father, Afghanistan being attacked by the USSR and Amir and his father fleeing their native place forever. As time passes, the relationship between father and son grows better as they explore their new and better professional and personal lives in America. But Amir is always haunted by old memories, so when he receives a call from his father’s old friend, he actually realizes that “there is a way to be good again”.

The writer also wanted his readers to witness the beautiful country being devastated with grown up Amir visiting Afghanistan after decades just to see the destroyed age-old idol of Buddha, demolished buildings, a ban on kite tournaments, exploitation of women and children under Taliban rule. Nowhere in the book is it mentioned that this is a work of fiction and it seems as if this book is a beautiful blend of fiction and reality.

The manner in which the grown up Amir manages to free Hassan’s child from the Talibans, is quite an innovation. Apart from friendship, the book also deals with father-son relations with maturity. Khaled also uses the words from the local language providing a flavour of Afghani culture. Though the story revolves around relationships, with the constant background of a free and happy Afghanistan to a devastated Afghanistan, it is evident that writer felt pain for his country, which he wanted to share with the world with the book.