ELON, N.C.—Mortar and sandcastles. Kites banned by the Taliban twisting and straining against a gaping sky. Reading the newspaper from the light of rockets finding a target.

These are the images that inspired Afghan writer Khaled Hosseini to stop practicing medicine and write about his greatest love—his homeland.

“We have to learn about each other,” Hosseini said.

When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Hosseini and his family were stationed in Paris. When they were ready to return to their home in 1980, it was too late—the political climate after the invasion and communist coup made returning home impossible. His family sought and received asylum in the United States. Deprived of their wealth and surviving on welfare for the first few years, his family was, Hosseini insists, “the luckiest of the lucky.” Over one million Afghans died in the nine-year conflict, another two million were displaced throughout the country, and one-third of the population fled.

The celebrated Afghan writer spoke at Elon University’s Fall Convocation Tuesday. The university chose Hosseini’s latest book, “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” as the 2009 common reading in an effort to educate students and teachers alike about the problems that plague Afghanistan. Despite American military involvement, most U.S.cotozens are unaware of the cultural issues of a nation that is carefully entangled with our own.

“I had no idea about the struggles of the Afghan people until I read his book,” said Meg Cassin, a sophomore at Elon, who has also read Hosseini’s first novel, “Kite Runner.”

The struggles are many. More than 40 percent of all Afghans live in extreme poverty: one out of every five children will not live past the age of 5 and more than 25,000 women die each year from childbirth. Women are mistreated and undervalued. Continuous violence, military action and upheaval has plagued the country.

“Kite Runner,” Hosseini’s first novel, was set during the Soviet withdrawal and the rise of the Taliban, and was primarily a study in relationships and society. According to the American Library Association,  it has been challenged or banned by a number of libraries due to “offensive language,”  “sexually explicit” situations and is “unsuited to age group” of younger children. “Kite Runner” is unique because its focus on one nation plays well into humanity as a whole. It forces readers to reflect on difficult human situations, culture and the psyche.

“I realized that I was really writing [Kite Runner] about men… it was about fathers and sons, honor and fighting,” Hosseini said.

“A Thousand Splendid Suns,” however, is written from the perspective of  two females. Although Hosseini joked that he learned how to write about women by watching “Oprah” and “The View,” he takes the plight of Afghan women very seriously  and touches on a number of problems (such as abuse, neglect) women face in Afghanistan primarily, but also in other parts of the world.

The repression of females is an age-old problem. “There is this idea that that Taliban brought problems to the women, but the fact is women struggled long before that, hundreds of years before the Taliban,” Hosseini said.

“Women are the answers to the problems in Afghanistan society,” Hosseini said. “If women are given more economy, society as a whole will benefit.” He explained that any society depends on women to be successful, and for Afghanistan the idea that women are less valuable “has been a chronic problem.

“They don’t go to school, they don’t become professionals, they are hardly educated,” Hosseini explained.  He then quoted a companion idea from the book “Three Cups of Tea,” by Greg Mortenson and David Relin. “‘When you educate a boy, you educate an individual. When you educate a girl, you educate a community. We can put more money into building schools, it doesn’t mean anything if there are no women.”

Hosseini also addressed the current military situation in Afghanistan and why he thinks U.S. involvement is useless.

“What we are doing in Afghanistan is a counter resurgence,” Hosseini told his audience. “There has never been a foreign victory on Afghan soil. It is a country that is easy to invade, but impossible to conquer.”

Hosseini is not simply writing novels or challenging the problems that plague Afghanistan. He is also spreading awareness to the rest of the citizens of the world: he is creating an interest in his country, increasing the chance that one day a solution for at least one problem may surface. Most importantly, however, he is forcing readers to care about a place they do not often think about.

“Afghanistan is a human crisis,” said junior Joanna Patterson. “The most important thing Hosseini did in his books was to help us understand, in a more tangible way, the underlying similarities of humanity.”

Productivity will come to me sometimes in waves, gallons, buckets. It’ll just swamp me and overwhelm me and all I can do is ride it out and leave a trail of finished things in my wake.

Today I am having One of Those Days, and it’s great. I was just outside with the dogs, and did horse/cat chores; one benefit of my dad being away is that I have the roam of the land. I can do my mother a favor and do chores, which I like to do when it’s nice outside.

It’s great to do what I like in my own house. My mom is less stressed because dad isn’t here dirtying up the house, and I can be relied upon to keep our living space decent-looking. With dad here, it’s like, it’s going to get shitted up anyway, so what’s the point of picking up?

But that’s neither here nor there, because I am having a Productive Day.

I’ve got the card table set up in front of the couch and am going to put some of The Wiz on so I can hear my thoughts without singing them. I’m going to memorize some more as I finish my English assignment with the New Yorker and then chop away at my Kite Runner essay. Then it’s lines, for the rest of the day, and once Michelle and mom get home I’ll put away groceries.

I’m going to get my coffee and get started. I’ve got a lot to do– laundry and dishes on top of school and college essays, too– but I’m ready for it.

It’s just another One of Those Days.

Vi gillade ju den förra Hosseini, men det här var inte alls en lika bra historia och med ett alldeles för Hollywoodaktigt slut. Tre starkt strålande solar.

Nu ştiu dacă s-a terminat vacanţa. Măririle sunt abia pe 16 si 20 septembrie, deci mai am incă 2 săptămâni. În interior însă m-am golit de timp şi vis. De când mă ştiu, marea mi-a provocat nişte sentimente extrem de intense, continuate şi crescute mult după revenire. Nu am o explicaţie pentru asta, nu sunt nici măcar o fire romantică ori siropoasă. Sunt însă obsedată de libertate şi alte valori pe care alţii mi le iau în derâdere, pe care oamenii le calcă în picioare pentru că nu sunt moderne, ba mai mult ar părea lipsite de sens. Dincolo de noncomformismul meu, am o latură conservatoare. Oscilez între extreme şi poate pentru aceasta îmbrăţişez marea, pe care o pot identifica până la ultima picătură cu propria-mi personalitate.

Am ajuns luni noapte înapoi în Bucureşti şi acum acasă în Tîrgu Mureş. M-am reconectat lent la lume, am continuat să citesc – căci dacă ar fi să fac o cronică a ultimelor două săptămâni cam la cărţi s-ar opri în proporţie de 70% – şi m-am împotrivit ideii de curgere a timpului, de noi planuri, de acordat atenţie lucrurilor importante. Am încercat să caut totuşi idei pentru blog, să reînvii nişte chestii pe care le aveam în minte înainte de plecare, însă am eşuat lamentabil. Ce m-a determinat să scriu acum e un episod pe care trebuia să-l împărtăşesc.

Azi, pe tren, citeam Zătul de Tolstaia, urmărind cu coada ochiului nişte australieni aflaţi în dreapta mea. El citea un JJ Rousseau în spaniolă – am aflat apoi că e de fapt argentinian, iar ea Khaled Hosseini – A Thousand Splendid Suns. Era foarte fascinată şi se întrerupea doar să îi mai spună prietenului ei cât de mult îi place cartea, how great this book is. Dincolo de Sinaia, au început să se agite crezând că e deja Braşov şi cum eram singura pe fază care puteam să îi şi fac să înţeleagă că mai e ceva, am scos botul din cartea-mi şi le-am zis că there is still about half an hour until Braşov. Eh atât i-a trebuit ca fără să ştiu cum, spunănd că da obişnuiesc să citesc în engleză, să mă trezesc cu cartea ei în braţe, semnată şi dăruită pentru că nu vrea să o mai care după ea. El era dezamăgit că trebuie să găsească pe cineva care citeşte spaniolă, după ce eu i-am spus că mă descurc la nivel de începător.

E ciudat că prima mea experienţă cu Hosseini n-a fost prea plăcută şi am fost cam dezamăgită. Şi nu ştiu cât de dispusă eram să îi mai acord o nouă şansă curând. Aparent a venit el după mine, pentru că nu pot să neg că entuziasmul australiencei m-a molipsit. Am pus-o la păstrare, la aşteptare, căci în Bucureşti fiind, mi-am înfrânt lenea pentru o vizită la Cărtureşti. Şi mi-am luat şi JN de ieri căci am observat că era Romanul adolescentului miop, pe care l-am ratat total şi am hotărât mai bine mai târziu. Nu vreau să comentez colecţiile de la Adevărul şi de la Jurnalul Naţional, discuţiile pro şi contra pe marginea lor sunt interminabile; ca să fiu sinceră mă tăvălesc de râs la reclamele celor de la Adevărul, care au ales o metodă foarte superficială de a se promova. Oricum, nu asta contează pentru mine şi nu văd de ce aş porni o cruciadă de principiu împotriva a ceva ce, mai mult sau mai puţin, îmi poate fi de folos. Oricum, nu mă deranjează, ori mai bine spus nu ma afectează, dincolo de un uşor snobism ce mă încearcă.

Urmează, mâine sper, o trecere în revistă a Maestrului şi a Margaretei - care m-a făcut să nu mai cred că pot participa la concursul celor de la Nemira, cu personaje necurate, căci pe de o parte aş fi influenţată de ce am citit, pe de altă parte cum să poţi să ridici privirea spre un tărâm unde s-a scris o capodoperă?…

Arana

LE: M-am luat cu visatul şi am uitat că vroiam să vă arăt o vacanţă şi un sfărşit de vacanţă, în imagini.

(zâmbetul nu e pentru poză… nu ştiam că mi se face poză – de obicei dacă ştiu ori mă strâmb ori îmi acopăr faţa)

First, the positives. It was a fascinating and poignant glimpse into the absolute terror and hopelessness that so many have lived through (and still do) in that part of the world. It shows in distressing detail how poverty, persecution, and war can cause people to act in inhumane ways, and how hard it is to maintain one’s dignity in the midst of it all. It is hopeful in the sense that Laila finds meaning and purpose in the midst of all the hate and destruction. It is encouraging that a character like Mariam is redeemed, even if through death.

Now, the negatives. I know this was told from the perspective of the females of the story, so maybe this was on purpose, but I just did not believe the Rasheed character. When I say I didn’t believe him, I don’t mean that I don’t think men act this way – of course they do. What I mean is, we never get to know him well enough to understand why he is that way. I believe Hosseini wants us to buy that Rasheed is the default male – the natural way for an average man to act in that culture – but he plays such an important role in the story that I think we deserve to know more.

Second negative: Although the story was great (and Hosseini is a great teller of stories, no doubt) there seemed to be a lack of depth to it. It was a good story and it revealed a lot about that culture, but there seemed to be no symbolic or archetypal connections to other levels of meaning. A great novel, I believe, speaks on many levels: the self-contained level of the story is important, but other meanings on the symbolic and mythic levels of the novel help connect it to the ONE great story – the story that encompasses all stories. Perhaps one could argue that Mariam follows the messianic archetype, but to what effect and from what context? If so, it comes from out of a symbolic nowhere and therefore carries little weight. O.k., now I’ve gone off on my English Teacher soap box – I apologize for that.

Third negative: the use of language was uncreative and ordinary. I always prefer a novel to surprise me with phrases, images, metaphors, etc., that I’ve never seen before and never expected to see. Take DeLillo or Bellow or Arundhati Roy for three good examples.

Anyway, from the look of my post, you’d think I hated this book, but that’s not true at all. I really enjoyed it immensely. I just don’t think it holds up well to critical analysis. It was like a French pastry – very yummy, and that’s about it.

I realize I’m the last person in the world to have read this book, so I figured I’d throw up a quick little review before I checked out any real formal analysis on the novel. Maybe you can remember your initial reactions, too.

I don’t know…for me, The Kite Runner can be looked at as a really good story, one acute for our times. The book is filled with hooks and the action moves, there’s horror and self reflection, there’s heroic falls (though I can’t say there was ever too much real grace to fall from, just privilege), and, in the end, there’s ambiguity. So, we have the modern world, and though that’s been done before a million times, it’s still a good story. Hosseini is a storyteller, which, apparently and according to one of the novel’s characters, all Afghans are. Will people still be reading The Kite Runner in a hundred years? I don’t care.

To an American audience – maybe even a Western one – The Kite Runner is a valuable novel for a couple of reasons. Never doubt fiction’s ability to reveal the more human aspects of history, something extremely important as many of us will not make the dramatic governmental decisions that fill history text books (most of us just live under the blanket or suffer the landfall of those decisions). In an America pushing ten years of war in the Middle East, having a version of the human beings that make up Afghanistan is extremely valuable. Hosseini, without harping on anything, simply incorporates the last thirty years of the country’s politics and social climate into the backdrop of his escape, return, and rescue story. I like that, and got a sense of Afghanistan that will lead to further exploration.

And in that sense, an American reader can learn of the horrors of political turmoil and maybe realize that discussing health care proposals at all is a great civic honor and privilege. On the other hand, an American reader can also learn of the dangers of extended political corruption and the effects of an irresponsible society. Both are valuable, as are considerations of religion, class, and gender and how each may be terribly abused in the socio-political spectrum. That stuff I appreciate in fiction and it’s why I’ve come to support more novels from across the planet, not just those from Britain, France, the United States, and a few from Russia. Hosseini may not be as literarily apt as Salman Rushdie and therefore may not be capable of pulling off something like Midnight’s Children for Afghanistan, but he has still left a good story for people to enjoy, connect to, and learn from.

Whatever.  What I’ll remember most from The Kite Runner is Hosseini’s portrayal of the relationships between family members and their close family friends, because these are human issues and an American reader can find all sorts of interpersonal connections to the Afghan experience and come to “we’re not so different, after all” types of conclusions – which are good. The complications of an individual’s past (the secrets no one knows) that are so overlooked in the modern world’s snapshot categorizations into stereotypes are fairly well-explored by Hosseini in a couple of characters. One of fiction’s strongest attributes is its ability to make us understand an aspect of ourselves by reading about something else. Simplifying? No way. The history of the world has been told through metaphor, and human beings understand this. Hosseini did a good job at shedding a little light on why it’s valuable – necessary, really – to look (to quote The Who) behind blue eyes. Everyone might not have a horrible skeleton in their closet, but they have reasons, that go unshared with most people, for why they do things the way they do. Maybe simply understanding our own motivations could help us get along with everyone else? It almost worked for Hosseini’s main character. I’m really reminded of the old Cat Stevens song, “Father and Son,” which hit on the complicated silence that exists in familial relationships between the generations. All of that unsaid stuff that the elephant in the room metaphor can’t cover is incorporated into Stevens’ song and Hosseini’s novel.

So yeah, I liked The Kite Runner. It’s a good story and it provokes academic curiosity in terms of both history and sociology, and though I gave you no quotes or real defenses for this, I wanted to post something quick on my blog so that maybe I’ll come to find out I’m not the last person in the world to read it, and that great title can fall to someone else. William Dean Howells might praise Hosseini for creating a marketable product that also offers a little value. Me too.

Here’s a link to Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q29YR5-t3gg

Listened to:

1) Sunday at Tiffany’s by James Patterson

2) Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber

3) Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

4) The Host by Stephenie Meyer

5) The Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins

6) Gilead - Tried to listen but just could not catch my attention

7) Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

8 ) Geometry of Sisters by Luanne Rice

9) The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

10) Sixth Target by James Patterson

11) 7th Heaven by James Patterson

12) A Time to Kill by John Grisham

13) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

14) The Quickie by James Patterson

15) Against Medical Advice by James Patterson (True Story)

16) Mary, Mary by James Patterson

17) 8th Confession by James Patterson

18) Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

19) The Dive Off Clausen’s Pier by Ann Packer

Read:

1) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

2) New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

3) Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

4) Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

5) Thank you for all things by Sandra Kring

Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini es un médico y novelista afgano-estadounidense nacido en la capital de Afganistán, Kabul, el 4 de marzo de 1965.
Su padre fue diplomático del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores de Afganistán y su madre enseñaba Farsi e Historia en un gran instituto en Kabul. En 1976, El Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores envió a la familia a París. En 1980 estaban preparados para volver a Kabul pero para entonces Afganistán había sufrido la invasión soviética.
Los Hosseini recibieron asilo político de Estados Unidos. Hosseini se graduó en Biología en la Universidad de Santa Clara en 1988. Al año siguiente entró en la Facultad de Medicina de San Diego (California), donde en 1993 se licenció en Medicina. Completó sus prácticas como residente en el Cedars-Sinai Hospital de los Ángeles en prácticas de 1996 a 2004. Mientras empezó a escribir su primera novela, “The Kite Runner” (“Cometas en el cielo”), que se publicó en 2003. En 2006 fue nombrado embajador de buena voluntad del ACNUR (UNHCR en sus siglas en inglés), Alto Comisionado de Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados. En 2007 publicó su segunda novela, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” (“Mil soles espléndidos”).

Portada Cometas en el cielo

La novela comienza en Afganistán, en 1975. Dos niños afganos – Amir y Hassan – son los protagonistas sobre los que se sustenta una historia de traición por miedo. Esta traición avergüenza tanto al protagonista que lo obliga a hacer cosas de las que se arrepentirá el resto de su vida, y es por ello por lo que Amir y Hassan tienen que separarse. Amir huye a EEUU debido a la guerra y allí se hace escritor, su ilusión durante toda su vida, y conoce a su mujer.

Amir recibe una carta de un amigo que le pide que vuelva a Afganistán. Él lo hace, pero junto con el viaje de vuelta reaparecen los viejos fantasmas de la traición. Es la parte más emotiva del libro. Se desvelan grandes secretos y Amir se ve obligado a enfrentarse a sus viejos fantasmas.

Se trata de una novela dura de leer pero que engancha, que empieza con la historia de unos niños traviesos y divertidos y que termina con un drama ligeramente enrevesado.

No puede tratarse de una novela autobiográfica pero seguro que mucho de la vida deKhaled Hosseini se refleja en esta novela. Mientras leía esta novela pensaba “que grande y distinto es el mundo, que poco sé de él, cuantas personal viven y cuantas historias tendrán, y que suerte tengo que no sufrir la guerra”.

Si en mi reseña anterior (Hacker Cracker), comentaba que se trataba de una “historia de lucha y supervivencia” eso fué antes de leer esta novela. Sin duda esta novela es un Historia de lucha y supervivencia.

¿Y tu la has leido? ¿Te gustó?

Khaled Hosseini

Over a 30 year period, I took these photographs of authors reading at Cody’s. I’m going to post some of them and try to conjure up my recollections. The photographs were all framed and resided on the walls of Cody’s  . When Cody’s closed in June, 2008, they seemed to have disappeared. Happily they have been recovered recently and given to the Berkeley Public Library .

This photograph was taken while Khaled was signing books at a Cody’s  event at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley. At a previous Cody’s event, a conversation with Michael Krasney, he was asked a particularly incisive question.   “The Kite Runner was  imbued with these universal, epic, almost Wagnerian themes of sin and redemption, how did a first time writer conceive of such an audacious project?”  Hosseini said that he really intended to write and intimate personal narrative. It somehow ended differently. And the rest is history. His themes  resonated with the deepest feelings of the peoples all over  the world and according gained a world audience.

Margaret Atwood

Circa 1980 at Cody’s Books. I don’t remember much about this event except that her travelling companion told me that Peggy thought I was cute.

Joseph Heller

 I took this picture   in 1979. This was one of the first photographs of the entire collection. When they set up the event, they said: “Don’t Publicize it.” So we didn’t and there were about 20 people there. Heller said he didn’t expect us to do such a great job of not publicizing. Fred Cody introduced him as a writer, who’s first novel, Catch 22, was modest book with some limited critical and commercial success. I wish my introductions had been that clever.

Los Angeles Film Festival

LOS ANGELES (June 9, 2009) – Today Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced critically acclaimed author Khaled Hosseini and Pritzker Prize winning architect Thom Mayne as the Artists in Residence for the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times.  The Los Angeles Film Festival will run from Thursday, June 18 to Sunday, June 28.

In their roles as Artists in Residence, each has programmed a film that has inspired their work, followed by a conversation.  Khaled Hosseini has selected Cyrus Nowrasteh’s The Stoning of Soraya M., to be followed by a panel discussion with Nowrasteh, the film’s actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, and internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions Reza Aslan.

Thom Mayne will be engaging in a fascinating dialogue with acclaimed cinematographer Frederick Elmes about architecture and cinema, and screening specific film references that will offer insight into their work with light and space to create both imagined and living environments.

“We love having artists from different mediums who share a passion for cinema and a critical and conscious engagement with society as our Artists in Residence,” said Festival Director Rebecca Yeldham.  “We look forward to having Khaled and Thom share their film selections and insights with the Festival’s audiences and our community of artists.”

Additional Official Festival selections include the documentaries When You’re Strange from director Tom DiCillo and The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia from director Julien Nitzberg, Fox Searchlight’s offbeat romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer from director Marc Webb, and First Independent Pictures’ Big Fan, a character study drama from director Robert D. Siegel.

Festival passes, individual tickets and event information is currently available by contacting the Festival Ticketing Center at 866.FILM.FEST (866.345-6337) or LAFilmFest.com.  Festival Passes and tickets can also be purchased in person beginning Friday, June 12 at the Festival Ticketing Center located at 1038 Westwood Blvd.   In addition to screenings and events, Festival passes at all levels provide access to a series of networking receptions and entry to the ZonePerfect live.create. lounge at 1028 Westwood Blvd. where Festival pass holders can interact with Festival filmmakers and professionals in the film community.

ABOUT THE 2009 LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL

Now in its fifteenth year, the Los Angeles Film Festival is widely recognized as a world-class event, showcasing the best in new American and international cinema and providing the movie-loving public with access to some of the most critically acclaimed filmmakers, film industry professionals, and emerging talent from around the world.

The Festival features unique signature programs including the Filmmaker Retreat, Film Financing Conference, Ford Amphitheatre Outdoor Screenings, Poolside Chats at the W Los Angeles – Westwood Hotel, and more. Additionally, the Festival screens short films created by high school students and has a special section devoted to music videos.

More than 70 features, 70 shorts, and 50 music videos, representing more than 30 countries, make up the main body of the Festival.

Awards are given out in the following categories at the conclusion of the Festival: Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature with an unrestricted cash prize of $50,000 funded by Target; Target Documentary Award with an unrestricted cash prize of $50,000 funded by Target; Outstanding Performance in the Narrative Competition; Best Narrative Short Film; Best Documentary Short Film; Best Animated/Experimental Short Film; and Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Best International Feature, Best Music Video, and Best Short Film.

The Los Angeles Film Festival is presented by the Los Angeles Times and is supported by Premier Sponsors Target and ZonePerfect® Nutrition Bars and Principal Sponsors Kodak, IFC, and Netflix.  Special support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.  American Airlines is the Official Airline Partner, WireImage is the Official Photography Agency of Film Independent, and W Los Angeles – Westwood Hotel and the Hotel Palomar are the Official Hotel Partners of the Festival.

ABOUT FILM INDEPENDENT

Film Independent is a non-profit arts organization that champions independent film and supports a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation, and uniqueness of vision. Film Independent helps filmmakers make their movies, builds an audience for their projects, and works to diversify the film industry. Film Independent’s Board of Directors, filmmakers, staff, and constituents, is comprised of an inclusive community of individuals across ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race, and sexual orientation. Anyone passionate about film can become a member, whether you are a filmmaker, industry leader, or a film lover.

With over 250 annual screenings and events, Film Independent provides access to a network of like-minded artists who are driving creativity in the film industry. Film Independent offers free Filmmaker Labs for selected writers, directors, and producers; provides cut-rate services for filmmakers; and presents year-round networking opportunities. Film Independent’s mentorship and job placement program, Project:Involve, pairs emerging culturally diverse filmmakers with film industry professionals.

Film Independent produces the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Spirit Awards. For more information or to become a member, visit FilmIndependent.org.

Sobre el telón de fondo de un Afganistán respetuoso de sus ricas tradiciones ancestrales, la vida en Kabul durante el invierno de 1975 se desarrolla con toda la intensidad, la pujanza y el colorido de una ciudad confiada en su futuro e ignorante de que se avecina uno de los periodos más cruentos y tenebrosos que han padecido los milenarios pueblos que la habitan. Cometas en el cielo es la conmovedora historia de dos padres y dos hijos, de su amistad y de cómo la casualidad puede convertirse en hito inesperado de nuestro destino. Obsesionado por demostrarle a su padre que ya es todo un hombre, Amir se propone ganar la competición anual de cometas de la forma que sea, incluso a costa de su inseparable Hassan, un hazara de clase inferior que ha sido su sirviente y compañero de juegos desde la más tierna infancia. A pesar del fuerte vínculo que los une, después de tantos años de haberse defendido mutuamente de todos los peligros imaginables, Amir se aprovecha de la fidelidad sin límites de su amigo y comete una traición que los separará de forma definitiva. Así, con apenas doce años, el joven Amir recordará durante toda su vida aquellos días en los que perdió uno de los tesoros más preciados del hombre: la amistad.

“Cometas en el cielo” es uno de esos libros que se te quedan en el corazón. Desde hace meses, mi compañera de trabajo no deja de recomendarme los libros de Khaled Hosseini. Yo pasaba un poco. Pensaba que, como el libro se desarrollaba en Afganistán, todo versaría sobre guerras, talibanes, miserías y cascotes. Por lo tanto, aunque compré el libro hace meses, siempre lo dejé un poco olvidado, buscando otras historias más… en fin… diferentes.

Finalmente, la primera obra de Hosseini ha supuesto una gran sorpresa, un gran descubrimiento, un verdadero flechazo. Hay guerra, hay miseria, hay injusticias y horror. Sin embargo, también hay ternura, una gran historia, buenos personajes, amor y amistad. Es un libro estupendo, que engancha, que te implica. Con el ríes, pero también se llora y mucho, pero te enseña.

Mediante la historia de Amir y su amigo Hassam, conocemos un país tan traumático como desconocido: Afganistán. Una cultura diferente, el orgullo afgano, la miseria durante la invasión rusa y el posterior horror talibán…

Es totalmente aconsejable. Quizás la reseña me ha quedado demasiado corta pero es, sin duda, porque “Cometas en el cielo” es un libro que te deja sin aliento, que te llega al corazón, que te deja sin palabras… para vivirlo (para sentirlo, diría yo) sólo hay que adentrarse sin miedo en sus primeras páginas, lo demás llega sólo.

As I toyed with the idea of the makings of a good book, I jotted down five questions to consider:

1. Would you read this book again?
2. Would you recommend this book?
3. Have you learned something?
4. Has this book challenged you?
5. Have you been inspired?

Each question may be answered with a no, maybe, or yes.

The beauty of the story is to be sipped slowly, like the warm tea of the principal character, Amir’s homeland. The Kite Runner was originally published by Riverhead Books in 2003. This tale is written by Khaled Hosseini. According to Hosseini’s website, the author was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1965. He is the son of a father who served in the Afghan Foreign Ministry, and a mother who taught Farsi and history. Hosseni grew up in Kabul, Paris, and San Jose, California. He was a practicing internist at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California, between 1996 and 2004.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni is 400 pages filled with a story of transgression, redemption, courage, and cowardice. Amir’s story is part memory, part journey, and part history lesson told from the eyes of a person growing into his own skin. Interwoven in the tapestry of Amir’s story is the notion of what it means to be wronged, what it means to be the offender, and what it means to set right that which has been altered. Amirjan, as he is affectionately called by his family is a twin soul connected to his servant friend Hasan. Amirjan and Hasan’s relationship is symbolic of the public and private lives one leads. There is a public face that legitimizes one’s place in society and a private face that is disfigured by our hurts, sins, shames and short comings. Through the faded beauty of Afghanistan the reader waits for the dust of shuffled souls to settle in order to examine the cost of forgetting your story and the fee due for its return.

The Stats
Started: May 14, 2009
Finished: May 17, 2009
Resource: Local library, recommended by Ama A.

The Questions
1. Would you read this book again? YES, but I would not have watched the movie first (which I did).
2. Would you recommend this book? YES
3. Have you learned something? YES (definitely about Afghanistan, but also about forgiveness).
4. Has this book challenged you? YES
5. Have you been inspired? YES (absolutely so).

Op 29 september 1966 is de 16 jaar oude Harriet Vanger spoorloos verdwenen. Nu, 40 jaar later, krijgt journalist Mikael Blomqvist een ongewone opdracht: hij wordt door grootindustrieel Henrik Vanger gevraagd de geschiedenis van zijn familie te schrijven. Wat hij eigenlijk wil is de waarheid achterhalen over Harriet. Mikael vindt dat hij wel even uit zijn sleur bij het tijdschrift kan komen en samen met computerdeskundige Lisbeth begint hij aan de opdracht. Ze graven dieper en dieper in het verleden van de familie en komen steeds donkerder geheimen tegen.

Dat is de korte inhoud van de verfilming van het eerste deel van Stieg Larsson’s Millennium-trilogie ‘Mannen die vrouwen haten’, die wereldwijd ondertussen 13 miljoen keer over de toonbank is gegaan. In het Nederlandse taalgebied zijn er 250.000 stuks verkocht waarvan 75.000 in Vlaanderen. Enkel de boeken van Hosseini worden nóg beter verkocht.

Naar het schijnt krijgen we voorafgaand aan de film vanavond exclusieve interviews met beide hoofdrolspelers de hoofdrolspeelster van de film, zijnde Michael Nyqvist en Noomi Rapace en regisseur Niels Arden Oplev. Als ik dit tik moet ik nog een kleine 100 blz van het boek lezen, maar straks is dat probleem wel van de baan. Afgaande op de kritieken zou het een degelijke film moeten zijn. Een korte trailer kan je hier vinden.

UPDATE

Tsja, wat moeten we hier nu vertellen. Als je de film hebt gezien en het boek niet hebt gelezen is het een vrij aardige film. Als je het boek hebt gelezen én de film hebt gezien is het een mes dat van twee kanten snijdt. Zo kan je meer fantaseren over dingen die in het boek worden verteld, terwijl de film er meestal een andere invulling aan geeft. Zo vond ik inderdaad ook dat het einde vrij snel werd afgehaspeld. Nochtans was het geheel onderhoudend genoeg om niet te vervelen.

Er is ook duidelijk een aantal aanpassingen gebeurd bij de verfilming. Zo vind ik dat er ten opzichte van het boek een aantal dingen geloofwaardiger worden weergegeven in de filmversie. Het feit dat het aantal seksscènes sterk is ingekort en dat men een hoop dingen niet of in versneld tempo de revue heeft laten passeren vind ik persoonlijk ook een verbetering. Niet alle intriges uit het boek voegen iets aan het verhaal toe. Het einde is een beetje abrupt. Maar we weten wel dat er nog twee verdere films op stapel staan binnenkort.

Om te zeggen dat het geheel een beetje op een verfilmde tv-serie lijkt gaat naar mijn mening iets te ver, hoewel vergelijkingen met Wallander & co zeker te herkennen zijn. In Scandinavië was er alleszins al een hype merkbaar in de filmzalen toen deze prent uitkwam. Benieuwd of ie ook bij ons gaat scoren.

I remember my mother effusively praising The Kite Runner when it came out a couple of years ago. Picking up the book, I was spellbound by a thriller in a new location, with prose that was poetic but highly readable. It was a superior page turner, but I could not give it the effusive praise that reviewers from around the web like Keith Law or Caribou’s Mom had.  The plot twists got a bit too unwieldy, and Hosseini had a habit of foreshadowing at the end of every chapter that had the subtlety of a brick through a window.  However, the book was very well done, and certainly showed potential for greatness.  I wanted to see what Hosseini would do next.

Put simply, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a masterpiece.  It is better in every way than The Kite Runner, while not losing Hosseini’s masterful storytelling ability.  The plot is more assured and less melodramatic, its villains more plausible, and it’s heros journey more heart-tugging, and given the tribulations of Amir and Hassan in the earlier novel, that is saying something.   The story begins with the marriage of Maryam, born illegitimately to a Herat businessman and his maid.  Ostracized due to this status, she is eventually married off to the much senior Rasheed.  The marriage, as one can imagine, was based on subjugation — women’s rights were not precisely celebrated.  As the story continues, we are introduced to Laila, a girl in Kabul whose life is shattered by the rise of the Taliban, and she and Maryam end up in each others orbit.  The book is about their friendship and time together, and that is all the plot that I will describe.

What is left to praise is how much information and commentary Hosseini weaves about Afghanistan, the Soviet era, and the Taliban.  Really with his two novels, Hosseini is taking not-especially-innovative stories – this story is really a genre story in many ways – but using them as frames to erect a very specific story about a very specific society – and paradoxically creating a universal story as a result.  One of the questons I always hear when discussing this part of the world is “what must it be like for women?”, and this book provides at least some interesting thoughts.  Hosseini does not portray the situation – at least under Soviet rule – as entirely bad, and tradition is valued.  It is not as cut and dried as an outsider might see it.  Even Rasheed – who is one of the great villains I have ever encountered in a novel – is not impossibly evil, but he acts in a way that fits into what men were taught to expect at the time.  One learns through him much of how men could be steered in a society set up so patariarchically.

At the end of the day, the story contains a lot of simple themes that any reader can relate to.  It is a classic, old fashioned narrative, but wrapped in a new package and told by an author with an amazingly gripping voice.

Maybe I’m a little late, since Khaled Hosseini’s  The Kite Runner was printed in 2003 and is a New York Times bestseller, but I just read it yesterday and it’s great, so I thought I’d tell you guys about it.

This novel spans from about 1975 to present day, and is set mainly in Afghanistan. It focuses on the life of the narrator, Amir, a privileged 12-year-old in 1975 who wants nothing more than to make his successful father proud of him. Unfortunately, his talents lie not in athletics, but in writing. His father is not impressed. Eventually, gaining his father’s approval will require Amir to turn his back on his best friend and loyal servant, Hassan. It’s a terrible summary and covers less than half of the book, but it’s about all I can say without ruining the story.

Kite Runner is dark and really depressing and violent and a bit graphic in places, and yet a fantastic read with a happy ending – similar to Hosseini’s next novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, also a great book and highly recommended.

In conclusion, this review really sucks, but the book does not. You should read it.

And here’s a picture of my happy baby, who is one month old today.

-Caitlin

Today is International Women’s Day! 

Let us celebrate women! All kinds of women! Real or imaginary! Famous or anonymous! Dead or alive! Public or private! It is not easy to be brought into a world dominated by males and have to be the exception to the rule. The “weaker” sex. I am not exactly a feminist, but I am a 21st century woman who has to say, even though this may sound robotic and repetitive, that we are not the weaker sex. Maybe physically, but that’s only because  men and women are different by nature. As a consequence, we have different strengths and different weaknesses, and I believe we complete each other wonderfully in this crazy little world in which we live. For some unfortunate mysterious reason, men won some kind of “race” that made them think they were more able then women. Maybe it was simply due to their physical nature, as opposed to our nurturing one (of course there are nurturing men and physical women, I am just generalizing a bit here). It may seem reasonable for a man to say it’s unfair that women should have an international day and men shouldn’t, but take a look at history and see why us, women, do deserve to be celebrating this day. See how far we’ve come just to be seen as human beings.

This year’s IWD’s theme is “Women and men united to end violence against women and girls.” In our western world it may seem almost unreal that so many women are still victims of domestic violence and rape. I believe the situation is even worse in the eastern world, where women are seen as a commodity, a propriety of her father, and then of her husband. They have to undertake all sorts of violence as if it were absolutely normal.

This seems to be the most appropriate time to talk about A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I have just devoured. Khaled Hosseini hits another home run! He managed not only to keep my undivided attention throughout the entire book, but he did so even more brilliantly than in The Kite Runner. Maybe I have empathized more, being a girl and all, but the stories of Mariam and Laila have really moved me, and I have to disagree with anybody who says that A Thousand Splendid Suns is just like The Kite Runner and ask them to go read both books again, paying more attention this time. Of course what I can provide here is only my subjective interpretation (yes, I am part of the “Department of Redundancy Department“), but I’ll try to quickly show my point.

I have read The Kite Runner a while back, so I might not have all my facts right on this one, but some of the major issues in it, were omission and redemption. The story of the girls in A Thousand Splendid Suns has nothing of omission, but of endless fights against oppression. They are brought up in a society which is the epitome of patriarchy and fight against the oppressor day in and day out. I don’t want to spoil the fun in any of the stories, but I’ll just say that the only thing I found in common between both works, besides the author and his writing style, is the fact that the main characters are brought up in Afghanistan. In The Kite Runner we have Amir running away from his problems both by not acting when Hassan needed his help, as well by moving to a different country. The girls in  A Thousand Splendid Suns suffer a lot more just for being women in Afghanistan, but they never successfully run away from their problems or land, even though they try. What they do instead is fight the best they can every single day. A Thousand Splendid Suns also brings a lot more facts about the endless wars in Afghanistan, bringing a problem that seems so far away from us when seen on TV or read about on papers, much closer to us. Through Mariam and Laila’s eyes, we can understand and sympathize a lot more with the devastating and sad situation that people goes through. 

Women like Mariam and Laila are real, they fight little and big battles everyday, and they are much more heroic than any of the so-called war heroes, who seem to be nothing but boys playing with guns for no personal reason. Those women fight personal battles on a daily basis, they have to put up with verbal and physical violence inside their own homes, they have no other option, but still fight against oppression. Let’s celebrate all women today, but especially those who still need to fight to prove they are human beings just as men are, and deserve to be treated as so. Let’s hope someday we achieve some kind of equality in this world. Let’s hope that men and women respect each other and their differences, and co-exist completing each other, in the best possible way.