Here's the spot for other comments or questions from the book not addressed already. Overall opinions, new questions and discussions, or clarification items may go here (for credit).
I am just writing my overall perceptions and feelings of this novel, Kite Runner. These include feelings I terribly failed to express and communicate in an effective and efficient manner to the class during our first in-class-discussion and those that have continued to develop throughout my entire reading of this novel.
Unfamiliarity and no real connection—two reasons why I did not enjoy reading this novel as much as other books I have read in the past. Some reviewers have summarized the novel as “An epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, that takes us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present.” Personally, however, I felt like I could not relate to the characters and story plots that Mr. Khaled Hosseini developed in his book. I know I am probably in the minority when I say this but, in the past, I have had a better reading experience in reading books that I somehow can connect with or books with conventional characters, setting, and plot. Call me boring or close minded but, I was not able to relate to a book almost entirely made of male and from a different culture. I would rather read about (I am not sexist—it just easier to relate to) a girl or woman of the same culture as myself or one that I have had personal experience with.
This well and artistically written book was not at a total loss but these are my overall views and feelings of the novel as a whole. What is your take on it? What about you “males” do think you were better able to relate to the characters Amir, Hassan, Baba, etc.? What about you fellow “females” do you enjoy reading stories almost entirely made up of males. . . or are you indifferent?
PS: I know this entry is not the strongest entry but I just wrote what I felt and I hope this all makes sense! :)
I would like to talk about how Hassan was even able to serve at the party in the begging of the book after Amir won the competition. How could he stand interacting with Assef after the ally incident. I fthat happened to me I don't think I could stand the sight of him. Also I don't think I could control the anger that would undoubtedly be directed at him. how could Hassan not tell anyone about what happened. it makes me think that he knew Amir was there. i don't think it really expressed a definite answer whether or not Hassan knew Amir saw it happen. If Hassan knew then I can understand the gap between them, but otherwise i think Amir would have been the first person he would tell. if he didn't know at first he must have known eventually because when they finally did start to interact Amir made things very akward. This makes me question whether or not either of them considered the other one a "friend" because if either really did then wouldn't have said something about it to the other one?
My comment is entirely the opposite of Speedy Gonzalous. I enjoyed reading this book probably more than a typical teenager would. The character was male and the culture was different but a lot of the events that took place I could understand. Having the same religion as Amir helps get connected with the novel in more ways than one. I could relate to a parent telling me that other Muslims are not really the same Muslims as we are because in truth it is fact. I could relate to many of the surroundings that Amir experienced as he moved to America for the first time and when he finally went back to Afghanistan after the war. I went back to my country after the war and felt like it was not my country at all and that I felt "like a tourist in my own country" (pg 231). I could see the pain and poverty that people experienced on a daily basis as I was enjoying a life in America.
I connected the most as Amir revisited the war torn country of Afghanistan. I myself felt that Bosnia was not really my country anymore because I grew up in America. When Amir says, "The kinship I felt suddenly for the old land...it surprised me. I'd been gone long enough to forget and be forgotten," takes me back to so many feelings that I encountered as I revisited my country. The overall experience of revisiting something that is long forgotten changes your whole life and helps you find yourself. I think that beneath all the rubble and pain in Bosnia, I found myself again and was given the strength to actually be proud of who I was. This book is an uplifting to my experiences and mimics much of what I felt like in America and what I experienced when I revisited Bosnia. For me, this book was like a mirror image of what I once felt in my life.
"And, under the bony glow of a halfmoon, I sensed Afghanistan humming under my feet. Maybe Afghanistan hadn't forgotten me either." (pg 241)
I am not finished with the book yet, so I can not give all of ym feelings on it yet but right now I would say this book has been a dissapointment. It is a very well written book, it almost seems like a true story, and there are some parts that I like in it. But after hearing everyone rave about it I was expecting something a little different, maybe more upbeat. To me this book would stand out a lot more if I didn't turn on the news everyday and see the same exac things happening. It is not a terrible book by any means and it has great lessons and stories in it, it is just that I am so tired of hearing about bad things happening it makes me not want ot finish it. I also can't make a connection with the book or its characters, I just can't relate to them. It is kind of like when you put in a new cd and you know the music is good, the lyrics are good, and you should be liking it, but you don't because you have never gone through anything they are singing about. It is a good book, but it just is not my type of book.
So far this book has been interesting to me. It is not the tipical book that I am used to reading. It was kind of sad at first and I like to be happy when I read. It was definatley one of those books that makes you want to keep reading. I thought the part when Amir is trying to get with Soraya is cute. He reminds me of me sometime. Well anyway this book is pretty good so far and i can't wait to finish it. Bye
I wondered what Amir had going through his mind while I read the story. He seems like a good person, but yet he seem like a hypocrite. I believe that he loves Hassan truly. but then the way he stood him up at the alley makes me question his friendship. Assef, although the bad guy, seem to hit Amir with the truth when he asked Hassan why did Amir always excluded him from the games that he play when other kids were around. I want to believe that Amir was a good person, but then he was not. The way that he treated Hassan after the encounter of the incident in the alley made me even madder. He did not realize that he was putting Hassan in even more pain than he was already in because he made Hassan feel as if he has done something wrong towards Amir when it's just the total opposite. I just don't understand and I don't think I would be able to understand what Amir was thinking when he did all the things he did to Hassan.
Well, to get things started, I really do not enjoy this book. To be fair though, I really do not like any book that I am forced to read for a grade. With all that aside i must say that as far as Chapter 11 Baba is quite the character. When this epic tale began Baba was the honorable man, he was looked up to by many, and yet his own offspring felt unwanted or underappreciated. Then when they leave Afganistan Baba tell the soldier that he will make no deals with them, espically the trade off for the woman. There again he is a noble man taking the higher road and doing what is right. After arrriving to America and Amir graduating Baba makes thisd huge deal out of it and even rewards him. All the way until Amir tells him he wants to be a writer. i guess what I'm trying to get to is what do other people think of Baba. I think of him as a behind the scenes chaacter. he plays such a vital role, but compared to what Hassan and Amir go through people tend to ignore the fact that Baba was the Driving factor in Amir's life. I'm not trying to blame Baba for Amir, but maybe if he would have been a different man towards Amir then this story would not be told. What do you all think?
To Gunther: I agree. In this novel it seems like that all Amir wants to do is win Baba's acceptance. An example of this is when Amir graduated high school he said that him graduating was more for Baba than him.
"I lay in the dark the night Rahim Khan called and traced with my eyes the parallel silver lines on the wall made by the moonlight pouring through the blinds. At some point, maybe just before dawn, I drifted to sleep. And dreamed of Hassan running in the snow, the hem of his green chapan dragging behihnd him, snow crunching under his black rubber boots. He was yelling over his shoulder: For you, a thousand times over!" (194)
I wanted to comment on this book overall. The Kite Runner was a great read, and I agree with most of the comments posted. I didn’t relate to it much because I never experienced such tragedies in my life as Amir, Hassan, or even Sohrab have. The book also made few notes about women. It seems like a book of moderns times, but yet I keep thinking that this never happens in America about discrimination, and putting women last. Sonya barley married Amir because she was afraid of her past. Isn’t this modern society where things such as her case happen on everyday basis. Oh and I would also like to mention my opinion on Amir and Assef’s last encounter. Amir really did not have any courage to stand up for himself even after he was all grown-up. A little boy had to save him because he couldn’t hold himself. I think that Amir needs to fight his own battles and finish them on his own.
11 comments:
I am just writing my overall perceptions and feelings of this novel, Kite Runner. These include feelings I terribly failed to express and communicate in an effective and efficient manner to the class during our first in-class-discussion and those that have continued to develop throughout my entire reading of this novel.
Unfamiliarity and no real connection—two reasons why I did not enjoy reading this novel as much as other books I have read in the past. Some reviewers have summarized the novel as “An epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, that takes us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present.” Personally, however, I felt like I could not relate to the characters and story plots that Mr. Khaled Hosseini developed in his book. I know I am probably in the minority when I say this but, in the past, I have had a better reading experience in reading books that I somehow can connect with or books with conventional characters, setting, and plot. Call me boring or close minded but, I was not able to relate to a book almost entirely made of male and from a different culture. I would rather read about (I am not sexist—it just easier to relate to) a girl or woman of the same culture as myself or one that I have had personal experience with.
This well and artistically written book was not at a total loss but these are my overall views and feelings of the novel as a whole. What is your take on it? What about you “males” do think you were better able to relate to the characters Amir, Hassan, Baba, etc.? What about you fellow “females” do you enjoy reading stories almost entirely made up of males. . . or are you indifferent?
PS: I know this entry is not the strongest entry but I just wrote what I felt and I hope this all makes sense! :)
I would like to talk about how Hassan was even able to serve at the party in the begging of the book after Amir won the competition. How could he stand interacting with Assef after the ally incident. I fthat happened to me I don't think I could stand the sight of him. Also I don't think I could control the anger that would undoubtedly be directed at him. how could Hassan not tell anyone about what happened. it makes me think that he knew Amir was there. i don't think it really expressed a definite answer whether or not Hassan knew Amir saw it happen. If Hassan knew then I can understand the gap between them, but otherwise i think Amir would have been the first person he would tell. if he didn't know at first he must have known eventually because when they finally did start to interact Amir made things very akward. This makes me question whether or not either of them considered the other one a "friend" because if either really did then wouldn't have said something about it to the other one?
My comment is entirely the opposite of Speedy Gonzalous. I enjoyed reading this book probably more than a typical teenager would. The character was male and the culture was different but a lot of the events that took place I could understand. Having the same religion as Amir helps get connected with the novel in more ways than one. I could relate to a parent telling me that other Muslims are not really the same Muslims as we are because in truth it is fact. I could relate to many of the surroundings that Amir experienced as he moved to America for the first time and when he finally went back to Afghanistan after the war. I went back to my country after the war and felt like it was not my country at all and that I felt "like a tourist in my own country" (pg 231). I could see the pain and poverty that people experienced on a daily basis as I was enjoying a life in America.
I connected the most as Amir revisited the war torn country of Afghanistan. I myself felt that Bosnia was not really my country anymore because I grew up in America. When Amir says, "The kinship I felt suddenly for the old land...it surprised me. I'd been gone long enough to forget and be forgotten," takes me back to so many feelings that I encountered as I revisited my country. The overall experience of revisiting something that is long forgotten changes your whole life and helps you find yourself. I think that beneath all the rubble and pain in Bosnia, I found myself again and was given the strength to actually be proud of who I was. This book is an uplifting to my experiences and mimics much of what I felt like in America and what I experienced when I revisited Bosnia. For me, this book was like a mirror image of what I once felt in my life.
"And, under the bony glow of a halfmoon, I sensed Afghanistan humming under my feet. Maybe Afghanistan hadn't forgotten me either." (pg 241)
I am not finished with the book yet, so I can not give all of ym feelings on it yet but right now I would say this book has been a dissapointment. It is a very well written book, it almost seems like a true story, and there are some parts that I like in it. But after hearing everyone rave about it I was expecting something a little different, maybe more upbeat. To me this book would stand out a lot more if I didn't turn on the news everyday and see the same exac things happening. It is not a terrible book by any means and it has great lessons and stories in it, it is just that I am so tired of hearing about bad things happening it makes me not want ot finish it. I also can't make a connection with the book or its characters, I just can't relate to them. It is kind of like when you put in a new cd and you know the music is good, the lyrics are good, and you should be liking it, but you don't because you have never gone through anything they are singing about. It is a good book, but it just is not my type of book.
So far this book has been interesting to me. It is not the tipical book that I am used to reading. It was kind of sad at first and I like to be happy when I read. It was definatley one of those books that makes you want to keep reading. I thought the part when Amir is trying to get with Soraya is cute. He reminds me of me sometime. Well anyway this book is pretty good so far and i can't wait to finish it. Bye
I wondered what Amir had going through his mind while I read the story. He seems like a good person, but yet he seem like a hypocrite. I believe that he loves Hassan truly. but then the way he stood him up at the alley makes me question his friendship. Assef, although the bad guy, seem to hit Amir with the truth when he asked Hassan why did Amir always excluded him from the games that he play when other kids were around. I want to believe that Amir was a good person, but then he was not. The way that he treated Hassan after the encounter of the incident in the alley made me even madder. He did not realize that he was putting Hassan in even more pain than he was already in because he made Hassan feel as if he has done something wrong towards Amir when it's just the total opposite. I just don't understand and I don't think I would be able to understand what Amir was thinking when he did all the things he did to Hassan.
Well, to get things started, I really do not enjoy this book. To be fair though, I really do not like any book that I am forced to read for a grade. With all that aside i must say that as far as Chapter 11 Baba is quite the character. When this epic tale began Baba was the honorable man, he was looked up to by many, and yet his own offspring felt unwanted or underappreciated. Then when they leave Afganistan Baba tell the soldier that he will make no deals with them, espically the trade off for the woman. There again he is a noble man taking the higher road and doing what is right. After arrriving to America and Amir graduating Baba makes thisd huge deal out of it and even rewards him. All the way until Amir tells him he wants to be a writer. i guess what I'm trying to get to is what do other people think of Baba. I think of him as a behind the scenes chaacter. he plays such a vital role, but compared to what Hassan and Amir go through people tend to ignore the fact that Baba was the Driving factor in Amir's life. I'm not trying to blame Baba for Amir, but maybe if he would have been a different man towards Amir then this story would not be told. What do you all think?
To Gunther: I agree. In this novel it seems like that all Amir wants to do is win Baba's acceptance. An example of this is when Amir graduated high school he said that him graduating was more for Baba than him.
"I lay in the dark the night Rahim Khan called and traced with my eyes the parallel silver lines on the wall made by the moonlight pouring through the blinds. At some point, maybe just before dawn, I drifted to sleep. And dreamed of Hassan running in the snow, the hem of his green chapan dragging behihnd him, snow crunching under his black rubber boots. He was yelling over his shoulder: For you, a thousand times over!" (194)
I wanted to comment on this book overall. The Kite Runner was a great read, and I agree with most of the comments posted. I didn’t relate to it much because I never experienced such tragedies in my life as Amir, Hassan, or even Sohrab have. The book also made few notes about women. It seems like a book of moderns times, but yet I keep thinking that this never happens in America about discrimination, and putting women last. Sonya barley married Amir because she was afraid of her past. Isn’t this modern society where things such as her case happen on everyday basis. Oh and I would also like to mention my opinion on Amir and Assef’s last encounter. Amir really did not have any courage to stand up for himself even after he was all grown-up. A little boy had to save him because he couldn’t hold himself. I think that Amir needs to fight his own battles and finish them on his own.
Post a Comment