The Kite Runner Summary and Complete Study Guide

Rahim Khan reveals that Hassan was actually Amir's half-brother—Baba was Hassan's father too. Hassan is dead now, killed by the Taliban, but he had a son named Sohrab who's trapped in an orphanage in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Amir goes back to rescue him and confronts Assef again, getting beaten badly but finally standing up for someone. He adopts Sohrab and brings him to America, but the boy is traumatized and silent. The final scene has them flying kites together, and Sohrab smiles for the first time. What hits hard? You can't undo the past, but you can face it. Redemption is possible but never easy or complete. Class and ethnic divisions destroy relationships. Watching injustice happen makes you complicit. The book shows Afghanistan's tragedy through personal stories, making the political personal. And sometimes being good again means risking everything for someone else's child.

Published 2003, became an international phenomenon just as Americans were paying attention to Afghanistan post-9/11. It humanized Afghanistan beyond war headlines, showing the country's culture, history, and personal stories. The first Afghan-American novel to make it big. Spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list. The 2007 film brought it to even wider audiences. Hosseini's accessible prose made Afghanistan's tragedy relatable to Western readers who knew little about the region. It sparked interest in Afghan literature and culture. Some Afghan readers criticized it for reinforcing stereotypes or focusing on trauma, but it undeniably introduced millions to Afghanistan's human dimension. Launched Hosseini's career and put Afghan voices in contemporary literature.