Customer Reviews
what an amazing tale... - By: URANIA, 15 Nov 2008 
I instantly fellin love with the characters & was deeply moved by the story. I usually read on the train & did not expect to cry my eyes out with this one; but I did.
A tear jerker - By: Mrs. Gail Radka, 14 Nov 2008 
A very emotionally charged book. Enjoyed & hated at the same time. Well worth a read
Run and get the Kite! - By: Isabel Maria A. Alves, 06 Nov 2008 
Here's a book everyone should read. No exception. Please do so.
I was totally taken by this book, cried a couple of times whilst reading it & even sometime after i had finished it i still remembered the characters so well. Haunting but oh so worth it!
A must havein you own private collection of books, even if its a small one.
I have also read 1000 splendid suns. top book too! waiting for Khaled's next book... please hurry!!!
Boring US part of the book - By: K. Tokarski, 23 Oct 2008 
Good, exciting first half of the book. The plot disappoints around the time Baba dies. Surely there's more to come, but I'm afraid I'm not going to plough through the poorly edited middle of the book to get to the better end I'm afraid. Quite disappointed overall.
Why is this book so popular?
A Puzzling Oddity - By: K. O'Keeffe, 19 Oct 2008 
It's hard to imagine how someone could call saccharine a book that contains genocide, adultery, pedophilia, rape, & any number of other atrocities, but there you have it, if this book has one quality it is its ability to somehow render all of these actionsin a sentimental light. It is an amazing feat, if albeit an unintentional one.
From the get-go this book had rubbed me the wrong way for some reason I couldn't quite place. I'm not squeamish, I don't flinch from gritty renditions, I enjoy having my boundaries of belief, outrage & moral standing pushed to the edges if for no other reason than to see where I stand with myself, but this book didn't do it. I'd turn every page not sure of why I had this uneasy feeling that everything was too sweet. In the end, I think it comes from the over-riding feeling (spoiler alert) that no matter what, everything will be all rightin the end. It doesn't matter than someone gets raped, that a boy loses his family, that a race gets massacred, because this ham-fisted novel has assured us that all of these events are only there for no other reason than to aid the main characterin finding redemption.
The book is most comfortable when it is taking its sentimental journey through Afghanistan of the 1970s, both lamenting & rejoicing a lost youth, something anyone lucky enough to have experienced a childhood will identify with. Its when the plot ramps into gear that the book rapidly finds itself out of its depth, struggling to cope with the severity of the situations it wishes to deal with.