The document provides context about the book "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. It was published in 2003 and tells the story of Amir from 1971-2001 in Afghanistan and the United States. The book explores the friendship between Amir and Hassan, and the political history and turmoil in Afghanistan during that time period from the monarchy to the Soviet invasion to the rise of the Taliban. It became a bestseller and was adapted into a film, though some scenes were controversial. Understanding the complex history of Afghanistan is important for comprehending the themes in the book.

1. The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
An introduction to the book

2. Factsheet
Date of publication:
2003
Narrator:
Amir
Setting:
Time; 1971-2001
Places;
Kabul, Afghanistan
California, United States

3. Factsheet
Bestseller in the United
States in 2005.
English is Hosseini’s second
language.
By 2008, The Kite Runner
was on the American Library
Association's list of most
challenged books.

4. Khaled Hosseini
March 4, 1965
Born in Kabul, Afghanistan
Published 3 books.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
And the Mountains Echoed.
Used to work as a doctor in
California.

5. Khaled Hosseini
Moved to France aged 11,
applied for asylum in USA 4
years later.
Returned to Afghanistan in
2001, “felt like a tourist in
his own country”.

6. Film
Film adaptation in 2007.
Film did not help the controversy,
most explicit scenes from the book
are in the film.
Child actors received death
threats.
Filmstudio Paramount Pictures
paid to relocate them to the
United Arab Emirates.
Their costs of living will be paid
by the studio until they are 18.
We will watch the film together.

7. Context
From 1933-1973,
Afghanistan was a
monarchy.
In July, 1973, when the
king was on vacation, his
cousin seized power.
Coup was bloodless, but
riots and shooting were
heard in the streets.

8. Context
In 1978, the new king
was overthrown by the
PDPA (People's Democratic
Party of Afghanistan).
Afghanistan wanted to
stay independent from
Russia, but the PDPA was
a communist party.

9. Context
PDPA reformed Afghanistan,
many traditionals got
angry.
1979, the Russians ‘came to
the rescue’. This started the
Afghan-Russian war.
Soviets didn’t leave until
1989.
Resistance came from
Muslim forces (mujahedins).
USA supported this.

10. Context
After the Soviets left, many
militias made Afghanistan
unsafe.
1996, the Taliban seized power.
After all the insecurity, people
welcomed the takeover.
Taliban massacred opposition,
and enforced religious laws.
Banned music and dance.
Severely restricted women’s
rights.

11. Context
After September 11, 2001, the
United States invaded
Afghanistan.
(The Kite Runner ends in
2001)
With the United States slowly
retreating, Taliban is
reemerging.
Because of weak government,
“violence and human rights
abuses are still a common
reality in Afghanistan” (Amnesty
International, 2007)

12. Afghanistan
Knowing the history of the
country is vital to really
understanding the book.
“reveals the beauty and pain
of a troubled nation as it
tells the story of an unlikely
friendship between two boys
from opposite ends of
society, and of the troubled
but lasting relationship
between a father and a son”.
[Wired Magazine, adapted]

13. Next week
Analysis chapters
1-5

14. ONE
December 2001
I became what I am today at the age of twelve,
on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.
I remember the precise moment, crouching
behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the
alley near the frozen creek. That was a long
time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the
past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it.
Because the past claws its way out. Looking
back now, I realize I have been peeking into
that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.

15. 'One day last summer, my friend Rahim Khan called
from Pakistan. He asked me to come see him. Standing
in the kitchen with the receiver to my ear, I knew it
wasn’t just Rahim Khan on the line. It was my past of
unatoned sins. After I hung up, I went for a walk along
Spreckels Lake on the northern edge of Golden Gate
Park. The early-afternoon sun sparkled on the water
where dozens of miniature boats sailed, propelled by a
crisp breeze. Then I glanced up and saw a pair of kites,
red with long blue tails, soaring in the sky. They danced
high above the trees on the west end of the park, over
the windmills, floating side by side like a pair of eyes
looking down on San Francisco, the city I now call
home. And suddenly Hassan’s voice whispered in my head:
For you, a thousand times over. Hassan the harelipped
kite runner.

16. I sat on a park bench near a willow tree. I
thought about something Rahim Khan said just
before he hung up, almost as an afterthought.
There is a way to be good again. I looked up
at those twin kites. I thought about Hassan.
Thought about Baba. Ali. Kabul. I thought of the
life I had lived until the winter of 1975 came
along and changed everything. And made me
what I am today.