Rainer Maria Rilke

"Live a while in these books, learn from them what seems to you worth learning, but above all love them. This love will be repaid you a thousand and a thousand times, and however your life may turn,-it will, I am certain of it, run through the fabric of your growth as one of the most important threads among all the threads of your experiences, disappointments, and joys."--Rainer Maia Rilke


Pages

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Grab a Case of Tissues

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Adult Fiction

This was the first time in my adult life that I was put in time-out....by my husband.  I decided to read this book on the way to a family vacation.  My children are asleep in the back and my husband is happily listening to his ipod.  About halfway through the book, I start crying.  The farther I read, the harder I cry.  At one point, I was sobbing so hard my husband actually took the book away from me.  He said he couldn't stand to see me that way.  He wouldn't give it back until our vacation was over.  Even then, I had to sneak and read it because I started sobbing again each time I picked it up.

Amir and Hassan are like brothers-growing up in the compound of Amir's wealthy father in Afghanistan.  Class distinctions start to divide them and Amir, as a child, is forced to make a very adult decision.  This decision will haunt him for the rest of his life.  While this is ultimately a story of redemption, the setting of Afghanistan during the start of the war made the fighting so much more real for me than any news coverage I've ever seen.

This book is filled with so much regret over a foolish, immature decision, a decision that changed so many lives.  Haven't we all been there?  Perhaps not in a situation as dire as this one, but we have all made life-altering choices that have affected others and that is the real beauty of this story.  Although the cultures couldn't be farther apart, there is something so universal about the themes of love and betrayal.  Haunting and powerful.

No comments:

Post a Comment