I don’t read too many modern books because I find that my experiences with them are usually hit or miss. The only time I hear about contemporary authors is when they generate lots of online buzz or when their books shoot to the top of the NY Times Bestsellers list. Sometimes the books live up to the hype and give me fun new authors to read (JK Rowlings, Dan Brown); other times, I’m left wondering what all the fuss is about (Michael Connelly, Nicholas Sparks).

So when I heard about The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini practically nonstop when it reached bestseller status back in 2005, I had reservations about reading it. The story sounded interesting enough, but I had a hard time believing that the book was as astoundingly superb as gushing critics and readers would have people think. I therefore held off on reading it until a few weeks ago — and feel that I didn’t miss much by waiting all this time.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): The Kite Runner tells the story of two young boys growing up in Afghanistan during the 1970s. Amir, the narrator, is the only son of Baba, a wealthy and respected businessman in Kabul. Hassan is the harelipped son of Baba’s servant Ali, and therefore acts as Amir’s servant. Both boys lost their mothers at an early age (Amir’s died in childbirth, while Hassan’s ran away to join a dance troupe), so they only have male influences in their lives.

Amir and Hassan are pretty much inseparable as children. They play together after Hassan finishes his daily chores, and Amir often reads books to the illiterate Hassan afterwards. Later, Hassan would serve as audience for budding novelist Amir’s earliest stories. Despite all this, Amir never called Hassan his friend because Hassan was a Hazara and therefore considered to be inferior.

As the boys get older, Amir’s treatment of Hassan becomes increasingly shabby. He teases Hassan for being illiterate, intentionally misleads him about the meaning of words, and humiliates Hassan for no reason. Nevertheless, Hassan remains a constant, steady companion who would do anything for Amir.

One day, something happens that changes the course of both of their lives forever. After Amir wins a big kite tournament, Hassan takes off to run (retrieve) the last kite that Amir defeated. As he gets the kite, Hassan is surrounded by a group of older bullies led by the evil Assef. Assef beats and rapes Hassan — as Amir, too scared to help, watches from a distance.

Amir is so beset by guilt about his inability to act that he can’t stand to see Hassan anymore. He therefore accuses Hassan of stealing from him, after which point Ali insists that he and Hassan move away (over Baba’s tearful protests). Later, Amir and Baba move to the United States, leaving Hassan and Ali behind forever.

The middle stages of the book deal with Amir’s new life in California, and then the last section covers Amir’s trip back to Afghanistan at the request of an old friend of Baba. When in Kabul again, Amir learns of a way to find some measure of redemption for his past actions by risking his life to save Hassan’s son.

My Reaction: I really enjoyed the first part of The Kite Runner, the section that dealt with Amir and Hassan’s childhood in Kabul. The dynamic between the two boys was very intriguing, and I was immediately drawn into their world. This would have been an excellent book had Hosseini chosen to focus solely on Amir and Hassan, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

My interest in The Kite Runner flagged considerably when Amir and Baba moved to America. I didn’t care about Amir as a character in his own right; he was only interesting in terms of his relationship to Hassan. I didn’t want to read about his college days, or how Baba ended up working at a gas station, or how hard it was to adjust to American life. Nor did I want to read about Amir’s courtship of his future wife, his marriage, and their troubles conceiving a child. This was incredibly boring, and brought the pace of the plot to a grinding halt.

Of course, the middle part was necessary in order to set up the all-too-contrived third act, in which Amir goes back to Kabul to rescue Hassan’s son Sohrab. That part of the novel was simply ridiculous in terms of all the things that happened. Assef turned into a murderous Taliban official, but agrees to fight Amir “to the death” for the boy — and Assef has enough honor to tell his men to let Amir go if he emerges from the room. Oh, riiiight. I can really see that happening.

And then Sohrab saves Amir from Assef by shooting him with a slingshot, just as his father had done a quarter of a century before? Sure. Also, one of Amir’s injuries happens to leave him with a split lip, a “harelip” of his own to mirror Hassan’s? Uh huh.

Let’s not forget the biggest coincidence of all: Amir’s lawyer says that the easiest way for Sohrab to come to the United States is on a Humanitarian Visa, but that’s also the most difficult to obtain. It would be better to leave the boy at an orphanage in Pakistan for a year and then try to adopt from there. Then, after Sohrab tries to commit suicide, Amir’s wife calls with the news that they got the Humanitarian visa after all. Huh? How did that happen? I don’t know, because Hosseini didn’t bother to explain.

So to recap here, I thought the first part of The Kite Runner was fantastic, the second part was lame, and the third part was too far-fetched to be believed. As a result, my overall impression of the novel was not that great. Add Hosseini’s pedestrian prose to the mix, and my rating for The Kite Runner falls to below average. I give it 4.0 stars out of 10.