Not quite as fabulous as "Kite Runner", but these 2 thoroughly held my interest: Haddon's "Curious Incident of the Dog in NightTime" and "Three Apples Fell from Heaven," by Marcom. The latter is a family history of the author's grandmother, who suffered during the Armenian massacres in 1915 by the Ottoman Turks. Entire villages were wiped out in the first genocide of the Twentieth Century. What I liked was the poetic writing style of the author.

Oh, I just finished this book an hour ago and had to come here to look for this thread. I agree, that this is one of the most moving and powerful books I have read in many years. I know it will stay with me. It has completely changed by view of Afghans and Muslims. What a fascinating country Afghanistan is.

It's been a long time since I was completely glued to a book. I didn't do anything but read it all day.

I just finished The Kite Runner and have such mixed feelings. To be honest, I felt it was somewhat poorly written, too jerky and disjointed. The big climactic scene was spoiled for me by the unrealistic and 'pat' details the author included. However, these feelings are overshadowed by the essentials truths and experiences the author is bringing to light through his novel. The characters will stay with me forever. Even though it is fiction, these events really happened to real people and that makes for a very powerful message. I strongly recommend this book - don't expect it to be perfect, just let it make you think.

Nymph- I just bought the book Three Apples...thanks for the tip, it does look good. The Kite Runner was so excellent and powerful I may read it with my high level class of high school seniors. I am still mulling over the idea.

Hi, Pam. Let us know if you decide to read this with the seniors. I'd be interested in knowing how they respond to it.

I'm an avid reader. That said, I've just finished The Kite Runner, and I can truly say that I haven't read a book that has moved me to tears in some time. I enjoyed this book and would recommend to anyone who hasn't felt satisfied lately with what they're finishing.

I am definitely going to read it with the seniors-will let you all know how it comes out!

Bringing this up again to the top for those who are just finishing and may wish to comment....

I stayed up til 2 a.m. so I could finish this book. It was one of the best I've read in ages. I found myself totally sucked into the story and the characters.

Tried to get my book club to read it but too many of us had already read it, and we're a 'women's' book club, so do try to stay with female authors.

Really glad it was recommended to me and it's now doing the round of my friends and family to enjoy!

Thanks for the recommendation. This book will definitely be next on my list. Just a digression, I watched a couple movies last year, which have similar themes as this book...Osama and Chasing Freedom. Both movies were incredibly powerful, moving and thought-provoking. The harsh Taliban rule in Afghanistan acts as a backdrop for both the movies.
I think those of you who liked the book, will like these two movies as well.

I had seen so much written about this book here that I had to read it. The book was a page-turner for me. I found the characters and the events quite compelling. The descriptions of Afghanistan and the lifestyle prior to the Soviet invasion were also very interesting.

I'm bringing this back to the top so it doesn't go away. I'm starting this book tonight, for my book group, and I haven't read any of the above posts yet.

I'm really looking forward to reading this. I tried to get a copy at the used book store but was told they've only had two or three copies come in since this book was published, which I guess is unusual.

I think that there are few used ones available, because everyone I know has passed it on to someone else...it may be like the famed Christmas Fruitcake...there are only one or two copies in the world, and they just keep circulating.

Last night at my book club meeting, we were talking about what books we might bring to our "planning meeting" next month (at which time we choose the next year's worth of books.) Several mentioned "The Kite Runner" and I am looking forward to reading it.

I just finished The Kite Runner this morning. I have to agree with almost everyone else who has commented - a very powerful, compelling book. Mary, I agree that the character of Hassan was vividly described and will stay with me (much like Owen Meany, another fictional character I can't forget). In answer to Mary's questions which began this thread:

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS** though I'm trying to be careful.

The ending: I liked it very much. Oddly perhaps, it didn't occur to me it would end this way. It was very moving without being a "perfect" ending.

Baba's personality: Very realistic in my opinion. The impossibly strong man who is, underneath, a flawed human like the rest of us. I believe it's a compliment to the author that I did not question Amir's childhood view of him, and so was surprised by the surprise.

Afghan life before the Taliban: I don't claim to know much about life in Afghanistan before the Taliban, but nothing I read about here surprised me. I just found it very interesting to learn about.

Changed feelings about Islam? No changed feelings. It did, however, make me realize there are even more divisions within Islam than I'd realized before. This seems typical of other religions I'm more familiar with, so it's not surprising - more confirming.

Kathy

POSSIBLE SPOILERS:

Have you ever read a book that disturbed you so much that you couldn't finish reading it? Well, I'm sad to say, that was my reaction to "Kite Runner." If I hadn't been reading it for my book discussion group, I probably would have quit after the horrific incident with Hassan in the alley with the kite. But I did keep reading, right past the horror at the soccer statdium. But when it got to the part where the sadistic guy (I've blocked out his name) who had violated Hassan early in the book got hold of Hassan's son, I couldn't take it anymore and I had to put the book down. I don't plan on finishing it ... I just can't.

It's usually scenes of extreme cruelty that drive me away, but sometimes it's just extremely sad or shocking incidents in a book. For example, I never finished reading "The World According to Garp," because of what happened in the main character's driveway with the car and the light's turned off ... I also gave up on "Joy Luck Club," when one of the characters drowned.

I guess I'm a wimp, but I just can't bring myself to keep reading certain books.

That said, it was interesting to read about Afghanistan and about the immigrant experience in America.

Now I'm gonna duck in case any of you decides to chuck something at me.

Sarah, although I stuck with this book and never considered putting it down, I do understand how you felt. It was incredibly disturbing. I felt uncomfortable the whole time I was reading it and couldn't get my mind off it. Still can't.

No chucking anything at you, I completely understand. I could not read Angela's Ashes because of the disturbing subject matter - deaths of children, etc. Yes, I know it is considered to be a wonderful book. No, I will not read it. Don't read anything that you aren't comfortable with emotionally - and you are the only one that can decide that. This book is indeed very disturbing, and effects all of us differently.

Thank you Kathy and Siobhan for your understanding. And you're right, Siobhan, each person must decide for herself what she's comfortable with. I found "Angela's Ashes" disturbing and oh so grim, but there was also a lot of love in the book, which made it easier to read somehow.

Last year my book group read "Life of Pi," and a couple of women in the group were very bothered by the graphic details in that book. To me, what happened in "Pi" was easier to stomach than "Kite Runner" because it mostly dealt with survival, not sadism (excepting the Frenchman, of course).

I can't always clearly explain why one book bothers me and another doesn't; but I do know when to stop reading.

Sarah, absolutely no chucking things! In fact, I wanted to thank you for that earlier post -- I've been debating whether or not to read this book for a long time, and you helped me make up my mind. I knew something disturbing happened and suspected it wouldn't be something I would be able to get out of my head once I read it. You clarified it enough for me to decide that I won't be reading The Kite Runner.

FWIW, I couldn't read Angela's Ashes, either, though I did like Life of Pi very much. Like you, I can deal with survival themes, but sadism and brutality are just not what I want to read about, no matter how well-written the story. I know my reading limits :)

You're welcome Sheri - That's one thing I love about RP (one of many), the chance to learn about a wide variety of books and to hear what people did and did not like about them.

Well, my seniors are on the last chapter-we have been discussing as we go, but tomorrow will read the last 15-20 pages and I will start to hear their final reactions and feelings-I can't wait.

I borrowed TKR from the Library and read it twice before turning it in.That story stayed with me for a long time. I was surprised that there was a "middle class" in Afghanistan but for the most part it seems like there is no end to the suffering of the average Afghan. I just finished reading "Shantaram" by Gregory Roberts and I found it fascinating. Its about a man who escapes from prison in Australia and flees to India. Good read! As for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell; took me forever and it will not go to my favorite books list. Tommie

After a long wait (since early January) I've just picked this up from the library and am hoping it is not too full of horror and mayhem . . . there seems to be so much of that on the TV and in the papers.

VeeR - There is one very unsettling incident, but unlike so many books I come across these days, it fits in the times of the book, and is not overdone. And it sets the stage for future events. Read past it quickly, and keep reading. I think you will be glad you did.

FWIW, I agree with Veronica.

When I read The Kite Runner, I actually put the book down for several days after I read the unsettling incident, unsure if I wanted to continue reading. I did decided to pick it up again and I'm glad I did finish it. It is a powerful book.

I too, was very moved by this book. It was well written, informative, moving, insightful, and seemed very personal. I wonder if the author changed some names and events to say it is fiction--it seemed much to real to be pure fiction. I wondered after finishing it if he would be in any danger to have published it as non-fiction. I have recommended it to several people, as opposed to Reading Lolita in Tehran, which was excellent, but not for everyone.

I've just finished this, and after reading the above comments feel I should have been moved by an unforgetable read, but I have to say that it didn't do much for me.
As an English reader I didn't think the book was well-written, with far too many non-sentences full of colloquial Americanisms, fine in direct speech, or when 'chatting' on a site such as this, but showing sloppy editing. For eg "lt felt like I was back . ." "kind of like.." "I was done . ." "outside of the city" "she had padded her hips some". These expressions might be fine in books by Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett but they add nothing to a work claiming literary merit.
On the other hand I felt the strong story-line improved as it went along, especially the last part when he goes back to Afghanistan and the reason for his father's behaviour becomes apparent.
Why was it necessary to make the evil 'sociopath' Assef, half German and an admirer of Hitler? Was it to emphasize his treatment of the 'lesser' Hazaras.
Slightly off-topic, I am surprised that many people here (who I regard as intelligent and well-read) know so little about Afghanistan. Here in the UK during the troubled times of the Russian invasion and the 'rule' by the Taliban we frequently had TV news items and longer programmes about the country, and we learnt about the various 'Afghan Wars' the Khybar Pass etc in history lessons (shades of our old Empire?)
I am now going to hide behind the chicken house to avoid the brickbats. :-)

VeeR - Did you notice if, and this is a thought, and I don't have access to my copy of the book - were the "Americanisms", also kind of childlike language, used more in the chapters of his childhood? That would be a great device, if it were so...

My lack of knowledge about Afghanistan applied more to the day to day living...the lack of television coverage of the soccer...rather than the politics, and culture in general. I think more in respect to how those politics and culture applied to everyday life.

The only example I can think of outside the book...my brother in law knew that beef came from cows...killed for our meals. However, he became a vegetarian after working a summer in a slaughter house, seeing the process...the abstract become concrete.

Veronica, the eg's of Americanisms that I gave came from the general text not from conversations between characters. Even the US diplomat who interviews Amir towards the end of the story 'sounds' more like Jimmy Cagney than might be expected of someone trained in statecraft.
At first I wondered if I was being too hard on Hosseini as English isn't his first language. But he has been in the US for over 20 years and is a doctor . . .he certainly did the medical bits well.

Vee, could this possibly have been the "fault" of the translator?

Vee, being an American myself I don't really notice Americanisms in most instances of writing (other than in the writing of obviously British, Australian, Canadian, etc. writers) because...well, they just seem normal. I would have to read your examples in context to consider their appropriateness -- maybe you can provide the complete sentences they appear in and the identity of the "speaker." I was going to ask for page numbers, but our editions may not be identical. Disembodied as your examples are, I can only guess at your objections to them.

Also, I wonder what words or phrases you would have used instead.

As it is the American idiom of English that Hosseini learned to speak fluently, I don't really consider it strange that he would write with the same voice, even to translate the words of his non-English speaking characters. I would find it more jarring if he had chosen British idioms. :-)

Mary I 'think' this book was written in English. The Acknowledgments mention the help he received help from the San Francisco Writers Workshop.

Frieda the egs were from the narrative. KH uses the word 'like' a great many times eg "I felt like I was back in the city" when 'as though' 'as if' might have been a more standard phrase. For I was done I would probably say I had finished.
This makes me sound as though I am nit-picking. I have read many books by American authors who write much better English than their opposite numbers from the UK.

Vee, you know I love this sort of "nit-picking." ;-)

Hmm. In the narration I think we can safely assume the "speaker" is Hosseini himself. KH's American English is California dialect, thus the liberal intersperal of like. The San Francisco Writers Workshop members are probably prone to the same tendency, and the same would be true if the editing was done by a Californian. However, that California dialect is so influential that many Americans use California-isms. I personally think the too frequent use of like is a scourge, but I don't think I would even blink over "I felt like I was back in the city"; simply because it is acceptable -- whether some of us like it or not -- to most American-English speakers, excepting the most conservative, pedantic prescriptivists. (Btw, does the title of Nevil Shute's A Town Like Alice -- formerly The Legacy -- indicate a similar tendency of Australian-English speakers to use like to indicate comparison?)

Kind of like is strictly informal; but then Californians are known for their informality. (Stereotypes are exasperatingly accurate, sometimes, if they don't please us. When they delight us, they aren't called stereotypes, though technically they are.)

The same sort of comments I could make for the other phrases, but I'm sure you get the idea.

As The Kite Runner is a novel (largely autobiographical) and not formal biography, history, or exegesis, I think it's perfectly fine for the author's nature voice and style of speaking to be evident.

Vee, there's one phrase you mentioned that I would very much like to read in context: she had padded her hips some. Do you recall where it's found in the book? That does sound as if (see I would have said like there) it was written by Raymond Chandler.

I believe

"like" is used to compare things -- towns to Alice

"as" is used to compare actions --felt to was

Correct?

Bump. For those of you who haven't read this yet, I'd urge you to try it.

(this thread was just about to fall off page 10.......)

Jane
UK

Our book reading group read this in September. The gal who hosted the meeting to discuss the book invited four Afganies, one of which she met at the University of Calif. Irvine where the author, Hosseini spoke a few months ago. That gal brought three friends.

The four from Afgan consisted of one man and three gals, ranging in age from ~28 to ~50. They were absolutely delightful and welcomed any and all questions about Afgan life, customs and beliefs.

The youngest gal had just gotten engaged the week before to an Afgany. She told us Afgans are not allowed to date until they are engaged. You should have seen the American mouths drop in that room when she told us that. LOL

I loved this book with all my heart and am very sorry I didn't drive the four miles to UCI to hear the author speak. But it was before I read the book and I had no idea what an impact the book would make on me.

Jodi-

I realize this thread has been on here a long time, but just recently started reading this book - bought it months ago, as a result of having seen it reviewed on this forum, as a matter of fact. I can't put it down - it touches my heart in so many ways! It has given me a glimpse into another world which I knew very little about. Such a melancholy tale, and solidifies the feeling that we are all just one human family on this earth. Our city has picked this book as the "one book" to read, with scheduled discussion groups and presentations about the book and also Afghanistan in general, the third year our city has done this, and the first time I decided to actually read the book chosen - I plan on going to one of the discussion events. Usually I read sort of "fluff" books just for entertainment - glad I am reading it.

Bringing this up to recommend another book about Afghanistan: "The Bookseller of Kabul" by Asne Seirstad. This work gives background information supporting some of the events in "Kite Runner", e.g. explaining the 16 prohibitions under the Taliban, which included the banning of Kite Flying as a sport for children and the wearing of the Burqua. The author is a journalist who lived with an Afghan family, post Taliban and post Russian occupation. She depicts in great detail the landscapes, houses, customs and folkways. Mind-shattering to Westerners, in some ways,in terms of arranged marriages and other cultural values, re treatment of women.

I just finished the book and thought it was very good for a debut novel. I wasn't expecting it to be quite as good as it really was - mainly due to hype - but in this case it really lived up to everything I had heard about it. They really do need to bundle this book with tissues, though. I don't normally cry - I'm a pretty hard case most of the time - but this book is very emotional. For those hoping to learn something about Afghanistan from the book - I didn't find it insightful that way. It's a very personal and moving story where the brutalities - social and political - propel the story, but the heart of it is still a very personal one. It had, for me, the same kind of raw power that Arundhati Roy's "The God of Small Things" had - even though their style of writing is very different.

I am just considering giving up on this novel on page 120.

It has not gripped me so far; the style of writing is acceptable/functional but by no means exceptional; I find the characters unengaging. Most of all I resent the hackneyed storylines of a) bookworm son who wants to please his macho father, and b) boy who betrays his childhood friend out of cowardice, and then betrays him further out of guilt over the initial betrayal. Transport those storylines from Afghanistan to America, and you will find that they have been used many a time before.

The reason why I have put the book down at this precise page, though, is the following paragraph, which brings to a head the author's tendency to insert Afghan words to create local colour (which doesn't work for me):

"But no Afghan girl - no decent and mohtaram Afghan girl, at least - queried her father about a young man. And no father, especially a Pashtun with nang and namoos, would discuss a mojarad with his daughter, not unless the fellow in question was a khastegar, a suitor, who had done the honorable thing and sent his father to knock on the door."

ana, the latter didn't bother me as much, I guess coz I am used to seeing foreign words used in other books, and I usually don't know their meanings,tho often guess them in context. I do agree about the betrayal of his friend - I had to put it aside for about a week after that. As for the booklover trying to be macho - thats such a cultural thing, we see it here in the Mexican culture, and I suspect it would be there as well, so it didn't bother me as much

Tho if you are having trouble with it at this point, you might not like where its leading. The number of coincidences really bothered many people, and some things just stretched believability. However, I think you are at my fav part, where he meets his future wife. That is such a lovely part of the book, had me smiling for most of those pages. If you can handle more of the language, it really is worth it.

Thank you, Cindy - maybe I'll give it another try.
By the way, I do not object to the use of foreign words in novels when the word expresses something that cannot be translated accurately. In this case all the words had been previously translated, and the sentence just sounds ridiculous to me (it actually reminded me of the first page of 'Dune', which I also put down immediately...)

I too am annoyed when foreign words are used, but only if they are not defined at some point. I've always thought a great way of learning a written foreign language and sentence structure would be to read a book that very slowly substituts words with the foreign language words throughout the course of the book.

Anyhow, back to The Kite Runner... I had a chance to attend a Afghani dinner event last Friday night where I met the author, learned about Afghani heritage and culture, taste their food and see art, jewelry, and clothing from Afghanistan. Khaled Hosseini was the keynote speaker. It was a magical night. I will post photos on another thread. A gal I know is in the family who hosted Hosseini's family in 1980 (Hosseini was 15 years old) when they (eight of them) came to the US for political asylum after an assignment at the Afghanistan Embassy in Paris.

Jodi-

Just read in the NYTimes that a movie is being made of this novel, filmed in China. Should be interesting....

Does it say anything about the cast?

Last I had read, they were going with either new or relatively unknown actors for the majority of the cast. You can see who has officially been cast by going to www.imdb.com and looking up the movie.

Re Hosseini's new book, I saw this blurb in a London newspaper:
From further east comes, at long last, Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" (Bloomsbury, May) in which the universally adored author of "The Kite Runner" returns with a study of love and self-sacrifice in a modern Afghan family.

Then I saw this in an American newspaper covering forthcoming books in 2007:
Khaled Hosseini, who wrote the smash-hit "The Kite Runner," is back with "Dreaming in Titanic City," a story of a friendship between two Afghan women that lasts from the 1950s to the post- Sept. 11 war.

However, Amazon in the US lists his forthcoming book with the title, A Thousand Splendid Suns, so did they scrap the original title? It appears so, or is this a case of different title for different country?

Cindy,

I found the article. I won't post the whole thing, but here are some highlights:

For "The Kite Runner," though, filmmakers have placed a huge wager on authenticity. They are betting, among other things, that audiences can be persuaded to sit still through two-plus hours of subtitled plot development - something moviegoers have become more accustomed to lately, thanks to studio films like "Apocalypto," "Letters From Iwo Jima" and "Babel," all of which unfold completely or largely in languages other than English.

About the cast, it says:
The search for a cast proved even more challenging. The streets of Kashgar, teaming with bearded men and women in burkas might fool the eye into thinking one is seeing Kabul. But dialect cannot be finessed so easily, and the producers needed to find a Dari- speaking cast once the decision was made to film in the original language. Homayoun Ershadi, a 59-year-old Iranian actor who played the lead in "Taste of Cherry," which was one of the winners of the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, was recruited from Tehran to play the role of Baba, the father of the principal character, Amir.

Khalid Abdalla, a British actor of Egyptian extraction who starred in "United 93," plays Amir as an adult. He traveled to Kabul to learn Dari in a crash effort that left a deep impression on the author, Hosseini, who spent time on the set here, and on all of the native speakers involved in the film. And Shaun Toub, the Iranian- born actor who appeared in the movie "Crash," appears as Rahim Khan, Baba's close friend and a mentor to Amir.

Thanks for that. Glad they are going authentic - I don't mind subtitles if they are done well. Still remember watching The Postman (Postino) and within a few moments was so immersed in the movie I forgot I didn't know Italian...

Still wish someone would make a decent film of one of my favorite books, House of Spirits. They actually cast Meryl Streep, Vanessa Redgrave and Glen Close in this story of a Latin American family. What a travesty (and a great waste of talent)