The Kite Runner » (Unabridged)

Afghan-born physician Khaled Hosseini rises at 4:00 every morning to pursue his second career -- as buzz-worthy, bestselling author. His first effort, The Kite Runner, is "a vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence," reflects The New York Times.

Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable and beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan grow up in different worlds: Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy man, while Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara -- a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him.

The Kite Runner is a novel about friendship and betrayal, and about the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of fathers over sons -- their love, their...

The Denver Post

...a beautiful novel...ranks among the best-written and provocative stories of the year.