"For you, a thousand times over."
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is a story about love, betrayal and regret. It is set mostly in Afghanistan during a time of war and unrest. All the massive changes brought into Afghanistan by shifts in political power are shown through the eyes of Amir, a twelve-year-old boy from Kabul. He came from a fairly wealthy family and so was not affected much by the unrests. That is until suddenly at the age of 16 he became a refugee and moved to California.
At the beginning of this book, Amir tells the stories of his childhood - tales about climbing on trees, playing games, watching movies, making up stories, flying kites and Hassan. His childhood, in fact, most of his life centers around Hassan. The time he spent with him, the love he had for him (although he tried very hard not to love him) and the regrets he had about him were a part of his life he tried very hard to forget but never could. In return, Hassan gave him his unflinching loyalty, admired him above all and loved him more than brothers do.
This book is a painfully honest story about life, the good times and the bad times, the mistakes made and the path to redemption. Every character is shown flawed in some way, broken in some way and they are all searching for love, forgiveness and redemption.