When was kite runner written

It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic. Discussion Questions. Parts of The Kite Runner are raw and excruciating to read, yet the book in its entirety is lovingly written. I'll relate the generic Afghan voice I've heard over and over again in many Afghan communities, which says that once the Afghan-Soviet war was over and Afghanistan had served its purpose by playing a major role in the downfall of the Soviet Empire and ending the Cold War, the West abandoned Afghanistan and its people.

Afghanistan was then exploited by thugs, the militia men, the Taliban and so forth. That is the main grievance leveled against the U. That has echoes to what we're seeing in Afghanistan now. Afghan people are a sovereign people. It's well-documented that they don't like foreigners on their soil. However, there is an anxiety, a sense of trepidation about what will happen once U. Are we going to see a repeat scenario that we witnessed after the Soviet War? Is the country going to unravel and revert back to ethnic war of the 's?

Is there going to be mass displacement of ethnic populations? Are we going to see another Afghan refugee crisis? Are we going to see the return of power of peoples for whom democratic ideals are not a priority? These are the views of the Afghan people, and the grievances they have against the West. They want the West to assure them they won't abandon them so it reverts back to this previous state. We should remember that a great deal of promises were made to Afghanistan after I happen to be one of those that say that significant things have been accomplished in Afghanistan.

There's been improvement in the health care sector, education sector, and personal freedoms and so on. For many Afghans, however, the reality they currently face falls short of the expectations they had after the U. Much of that is also leveled against the current Afghan government and its shortcomings and inability to provide for the Afghan people. Afghanistan's problems seem so overwhelming and insurmountable.

What is the proper way for Americans to "help" Afghanistan and Afghan people? People need to understand who the Afghans are and their wishes and aspirations. There's a myth that suggests that Afghans want the U. I think it's important for Westerners to know that's not the case and it's not a constructive way to view Afghans. Afghans are not beggars; they are fiercely proud and extremely resourceful.

They are a very determined people who want to rebuild their country. What the Afghans do want is economic and civic space to accomplish these things. It's been a challenge to deliver this to them in the past 10 years. The U. There are more aid organizations in Afghanistan than you can count and the rebuilding needs are massive.

There is a fatigue when it comes to Afghanistan. This is a particular concern of my own. The Afghan narrative, I have noticed personally, has changed a lot in the past 10 years. People seem far more receptive to the idea of "let's support Afghanistan and its people, let's invest in the country and let's rebuild," but it's very hard to get traction for that particular story.

I understand why because this war has been long and costly in all sorts of ways. As an Afghan I can't help but hope that the gains that have been made in Afghanistan - and they are significant - that those gains are not lose once more when the U. You have had a unique journey toward becoming a storyteller. A child of immigrants, you first became a physician and then a novelist at In many immigrant communities, children are told to abandon their creative ambitions to pursue the safety of the "holy trinity" of professions: doctor, engineer, and businessman.

As such, many of us have become successful professionals, but we haven't produced many modern artists. What's your advice to the aspiring creatives, especially the children of immigrants, who want to pursue their artistic passions but must deal with immense family and community pressures?

This is a brilliant question and touches upon something I've experienced firsthand. I think this is something that will sort itself out. Because the reality for the next generation, for example my children, is very, very different from mine. When I came to the United States with my family in , there were nine of us.

We lived in a small house near East San Jose. We lived on welfare. In that kind of incredibly stringent, stressful environment where day-to-day life was uncertain and you're living on government sponsored aid, the idea of nurturing artistic aspirations is esoteric at best. You develop a sense that the world is unstable and you must make your future solid and stable and you have to make sure you never end up in this position again. For the parents, they think "Okay, our life is gone, but for the children, we have to make sure they don't live a life like this.

I already see it being different for my children. I have a year-old daughter and a year-old boy and I don't think I've once told them that I want them to be a doctor, engineer, or lawyer, and I don't think I do want them to be those things. They live in a completely different world than I do with far more opportunities, far more chances, far more leisure to choose exactly what it is that speaks to them so they can pursue it.

I wanted to be a writer so badly growing up that coming to America as a 15 year old, not speaking a word of English, it seemed outlandish that I would make a living writing stories in a language I didn't speak.

I think the next generation we will see musicians and artists and poets and painters and our usual motley crew of physicians and engineers and lawyers. Rumi, the spiritual poet of Islam, was born in Afghanistan and wrote those beautiful words in Farsi. At the same time, we see that the Taliban's interpretation of Islam has initiated a reign of religious terror for the Afghan people.

As a person who has lived in Afghanistan and frequently gone back, what role should religion play in modern Afghanistan, and can it be reclaimed from tyrants? I wish it was quite that simple. I don't think the terrorists have necessarily co-opted the religion.

I think the insurgents have conveniently and strategically tapped into an existing mindset in Afghanistan. Islam is alive in every facet of Afghan life. It dominates everything. I am more or less a Westernized person at this point. I believe strongly in the separation of church and state. Right there in the Afghan constitution it states that no law of the land shall contradict the principles of Islam, and that's open to all sorts of troublesome interpretations. For the time being, I see religion playing an important, dominant role in Afghan life, politics, and culture.

Afghanistan is a deeply pious country. That's just the way it is. The Taliban has taken religious principles to unacceptable extremes for the majority of the Afghan population. There is very little public support for the Taliban and polls have borne that out. But, it's not like the Taliban came and invented the burqa or child brides. The nucleus of those things were alive and well in the culture -- not everywhere, but certainly in the tribal provinces.

That same year in Fishers, Indiana, a school board member protested to the inclusion of the novel in the AP Literature and Composition course when her daughter was assigned to read the novel. Additionally, some Afghan-American readers have expressed discomfort with the portrayal of the Hazara as an oppressed minority. Khaled Hosseini was born in , in Kabul Afghanistan.

His mother taught Farsi and History, and his father was a foreign diplomat in the Afghan Foreign Ministry. The Foreign Ministry relocated their family to Paris in The family was granted political asylum in the United States after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and moved to San Jose, California in Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner , while working as doctor.

He also established The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to provide humanitarian assistance to those in Afghanistan. He currently lives in Northern California with his wife and two children.