The Kite Runner

Amir has a troubled childhood growing up in pre-civil war Afghanistan. His mother died in childbirth, his relationship with his father Baba is stilted, and his closest friend Hassan is the hare-lipped son of the family servant, Ali. Amir does not understand the fondness that Baba shows for Hassan, a fondness that results in Baba paying for plastic surgery to fix his cleft palate on his twelfth birthday.

Amir and Hassan are taunted by Assef, a sociopathic bully from a respected Afghan family. At a critical encounter, Hassan rescues Amir from harm by threatening to shoot out Assef's eye with a slingshot. Assef and his buddies back down, vowing revenge against Hassan.

One of the highlights of Amir's childhood is the annual kite fighting competitions which marks the start of winter in Kabul. Amir is a master kite fighter, and Hassan is an uncannily talented kite runner, someone who chases fallen kites to be displayed as trophies.

At the age of twelve Amir finally garners his father's esteem by winning the local kite fighting competition. Unfortunately, when Hassan runs off to retrieve the last defeated kite he encounters Assef. Amir searches for his friend, only to witness Hassan being brutally raped by Assef. Amir lacks the courage to intervene and keeps his knowledge of the rape a secret. Guilt over his inaction slowly poisons his relationship with Hassan.

On his thirteenth birthday, Amir receives a number of gifts from his father and his father's friends, showing respect for his having won the kite competition. No longer able to tolerate Hassan's presence in the house, Amir frames Hassan for theft by hiding money and a gift watch under Hassan's mattress. Although he is innocent, Hassan confesses to the theft rather than embarrass his friend. Ali feels compelled to leave the family's service, and so he and his son move to remote Hazarajat, despite the protests and tears of Amir's father. Though Amir never sees Hassan again, he is constantly haunted by how he betrayed him.

In 1980, Amir and his father leave Afghanistan for Peshawar in Pakistan, and eventually for the United States, to escape the new Soviet regime.

In 1984, Amir and Baba are living in Fremont, California. Baba works at a gas station and makes extra money selling junk at a flea market on Sundays in order to put his son through school. Amir meets Soraya Taheri at the flea market. Baba is diagnosed with lung cancer. Amir asks his father to approach the Taheri family so that he and Soraya can get married. They have a traditional wedding. Soraya moves in with Amir and looks after Baba until he dies.

Years pass. Amir embarks on a successful career as a novelist. Amir and Soraya are unable to have a child, and are unwilling to adopt.

In 2001, fifteen years after Baba's death, Amir receives a telephone call from Rahim Khan, his father's former business partner now living in Peshawar. Amir travels to Pakistan to meet him. Rahim Khan reveals the