The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Just finished reading this book and my response is -- conflicted.

There is a tradition in the U.S. of reading one or two books from or about a foreign country and then believing we understand that culture. So I am always suspect when I read reviews that taut only one book as the gateway for western readers into a particular culture. This time the country is Afghanistan and the characters are deeply flawed and comfortably backward. Far enough removed from us that we can all look down upon them with pity.

Then I began reading the book and again I was reluctant all over again. Because the main character is really quite despicable in his callous use of his own class privilege. Again and again, he stoops to his baser instincts in ways that seemed entirely gratuitous to me. The writer seems to be telling us that the drive to power over another is so strong that it can overcome even the deepest friendships.

In the end, the moral of the book is that the sole way to create good acts among people is the motivation of guilt. Only by feeling dirty and useless can a man begin to act nobly.

Well, you know, fuck that shit anyway.

Just once I'd like to see a book about a foreign culture become a best seller by depicting a great and noble people. Well that certainly does not happen here.