Reading The Kite Runner

Well, I knew the genre I was being led into – fiction, but with a touch of reality and I have no complaints, only some reservations. The Kite Runner is certainly no bad read at all. It falls into my categorisation of works which I call the “Paulo Coelho type”, whose only work I have read is The Alchemist.

This genre is smooth to read, meticulous in its descriptions, nuanced in expressing emotions and a light read (for sure does not give a headache!). Although this is what is successful international literature, this genre by itself is a cliché as per me. 

 

Now, reading The Kite Runner was a nice walk down memory lane, reminscing my initial years of the usual fiction reading. All you Khaled Hosseini fans, I am certainly not disregarding the quality of the writing that has gone into it, but only expressing my disadvantage of being a bad receptor of fiction of his kind.

Things I loved

 

The Kite Runner is one of the smoothest reads - in all senses; not much to think about, not much to remember, no dictionary look-ups and predictability at about every nook and corner. These are for sure a nice respite from the other kinds of my recent literature. 

 

The backdrop of the story. It was as if, I was focusing on the unfocused portions of the scenes throughout. So, how did Afghanistan look? Why did the Russians invade? Are the Talibans like the ones I have seen on TV? The mountains, terrains, ambiance.

Simplicity : As simple a thing gets, more the beautiful it becomes! This almost holds good here. To see such a simple work to have that beauty and to have appealed to a really wide audience is a testimony to the simplicity and the beauty.

And not to mention, one of my quickest reads.

Things I did not love (!=hate)

The story by itself is too much of a repetition to what the Indian movies have fed you by the time you decide not to watch any more of them. The sentimentalism about relationships, which sometimes go beyond normalcy are an overdose to me. And I did not for obvious reasons feel very appreciative about the turmoils and guilt the protagonist undergoes.

Like I said, I liked the background better than the main story, for, there is a weak person as the protagonist. Now, it might seem unreasonable, but yes, in fiction, at least I need an inspiration! Else, come on: There is no point of reading!

And the simplicity is too simple; for there aren't many memorable lines too from the book! I like witty or profound lines, and was for sure disappointed to find hardly a few.

I might sound like the hungry critic, waiting to chew some cud about a famous work, but no: These are just my personal views as always. Of all the praises you might have heard for the book, not many would have had a perception such as mine, that could be because of the obtuse nature of reading I am into. 

 

I look at reading as an investment, and I am not a happy customer this around.

Well I have The Thousand Splendid Suns, and yes will read it, but not in the near future.