The Kite Runner cover art

The Kite Runner

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The Kite Runner

By: Khaled Hosseini
Narrated by: Khaled Hosseini
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About this listen

 Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of its 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 sacrifices, and their lies. Written against a backdrop of history that has not been told in fiction before, The Kite Runner describes the rich culture and beauty of a land in the process of being destroyed. But through the devastation, Khaled Hosseini offers hope for redemption.

©2003 Khaled Hosseini (P)2003 Simon & Schuster Inc. All Rights Reserved. AUDIOWORKS. is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division. Simon & Schuster Inc. Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Political War & Military Tear-jerking Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking Friendship Middle East

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Critic reviews

"...a beautiful novel...ranks among the best-written and most provocative stories of the year." ( The Denver Post)
"...powerful first novel...tells a story of fierce cruelty and fierce yet redeeming love." ( The New York Times)
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Really enjoyable read, not very gritty as I’d imagined but a nice book. Would recommend

Lovely story

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A wonderful book. It took me a few chapters to get used to the narrator's style but after that I was hooked.
Moving, happy, sad but just wonderful.

Wonderful

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beautifully written book. very touching and hard to put down. it got me in tears.

beautifully written book

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So much more than a beautifully written story. It seemed a good time to read The Kite Runner and hearing the author read it made me feel as though I was being invited to see, hear and think about another place in another time. Thank you. Highly recommended.

More than a beautifully written story

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Very good book with a great plot that made me continue yto listen. Well read by the author. Highly recommended.

excellent

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Compelling, gripping and deeply moving. Quality storytelling at its best. I thoroughly enjoyed this for the story and its glimpse into Afghan culture.

Beautiful evocative and moving

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I really wanted to like this book but it's taken me about a month to listen to the first 6 hours. However I recently read someone's review of the Audible app where they praised the ability to increase the play speed. I decided to give that a try (in all honesty in a desperate bid to get the book finished so I could move on) and found myself riveted for the last 6 hours of the book, finishing it in two days!

Better at x1.25 speed

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It was recommend to me by a work colleague as one of the classic reads in UKs school, what a fantastic book for a school assignment.

Amazing story

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This books shows us that there are good and bad people; and all of us in between. Impressive book for understanding Afghan's and human soul in general. Teaches you that nobody's perfect and you need to live with your choices; and make the best of your life.

How wrong we are

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Beautifully constructed story with huge depth of character. An emotive journey that is travelled as much as read.

Beautiful

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