My friend bought this for me for Christmas.

From the back cover:-
'Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to gain the approval of his father and resolves to win the local kite-fighting tournament, to prove that he has the makings of a man. His loyal friend Hassan promises to help him - for he always helps Amir - but this is 1970s Afghanistan and Hassan is merely a low-caste servant who is jeered in the street, although Amir feels jealous of his natural courage and the place he hold in his father's heart. But neither of the boys could forsee what would happen to Hussan on the afternoon of the tournament, which was to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return, to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him - redemption.'

I was given this book by a friend as a Christmas present. It is very far removed from my usual reading matter and I have to say it didn't appeal to me at all. Anyway I felt obliged to read it, if only to tell her what I thought of it. I know many readers have enjoyed this book and I can see why. It is very well written and easy to read - the author keeps you turning the pages! Personally, I found a lot of negatives which put me off the book. Firstly the subject matter - I'm not particularly interested in Afganistan, nor in stories about childhood friendships and their consequences in later life (obviously, this is just a personal thing and not a criticism of the book). Secondly I found the book over-emotional - it felt a bit like watching a soppy Holywood film (big signal - be sad now; big sign - get your tissues out now). Some of the events in the book are heart wrenching but it felt like being hit with a hammer, it's so lacking in subtlety. Lastly, the plot; I don't want to give too much away but for me the 'surprises' along the way were very obvious and the ending of the book seems contrived and sentimental.

I'm glad to have read it so I know what all the fuss is about, but it won't make it into my 100 best books ever list! Going to take it to Meetup as I'm sure others there will want to read it.

RELEASE NOTES:

picked up as a 'leftover' from the York Meet. Will take it to a future Leeds Meet to see if anyone there is interested...

... or maybe back to York for one more go at finding it a reader there?

RELEASE NOTES:

(re)releasing, as promised...

My Mum has been telling me to read this for ages - so now's my chance (that is when I get up to Sept on my TBR shelf - currently at March! Trotting through it a quite a good pace though!

Certainly not a cheerful story, but very moving. I knew very little about Afghanistan before reading this, and it was depressing to read about what the people went through at the hands of the Russians and then the Taliban.

Will have a think about somewhere to release this.