(no subject)

I finished Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner yesterday. I liked it quite a bit: it was a quick read, the story was involving (despite being ever so slightly predictable), the style was clear and simple. I was most impressed by Hosseini's obvious love for the Kabul that existed before the Russian invasion; it reminded me of Rushdie's paean to the golden age of Bombay in The Ground Beneath Her Feet. The stark contrast between the Afghanistan that Amir grew up in and the Afghanistan to which he returns after 20 years of violence by the Russians, the Taliban, and various Afghan factions is both shocking and moving. It was easy for me to imagine and sympathize with the grief the Afghan characters feel over what the world has done to their country, what their own countrymen have done to their country.

I'm somewhat concerned about discussing The Kite Runner at the book club meeting on Sunday. The book deals with big themes--love, friendship, betrayal, redemption--but Hosseini paints these themes with such broad strokes that there isn't much subtlety left to be teased out in discussion. This isn't a flaw of the book per se, just something that makes it perhaps less than ideal as a book club selection. Ah well, nothing for it but to see how things turn out at the meeting.

Despite my overall enjoyment of the book, there was one little plot detail that bugged me: I found it incredibly hard to believe that Amir and Soraya wouldn't seek out some sort of psychological help for Sohrab. I mean, sure they were raised with traditional Afghan values and mores, but they've been in the States for many years by the time Sohrab comes into their lives. They've developed some pretty modern American sensibilities, and it defies logic to think that they wouldn't find a therapist for a boy who has been through the experiences that Sohrab has been through.