Kite Runner
In my opinion this book is really good. It is very well written - very gripping and keeps you emotionally involved in the story the entire book and even after. According to me the story is about relationships and how our actions affect not only our life but the lives of others as well - how Amir's lack of courage changed his relationship with Hassan and also his father, how Amir's lie changed Hassan's life and how Amir trying to be honest in the end changed Hassan's child's life. It also shows how some environmental factors are so ingrained in our brain that they never change. No matter how mean Amir was to Hassan, Hassan never did anything to retaliate. He just accepted it because they maybe friends but he was a Hazzara (lower caste) and it was ingrained in him to accept whatever Amir did or said without any resistance. It also brings out the character of Hassan, of how strong he was mentally. On the other hand Amir always took advantage of this fact and this shows the lack of mental strength or courage on Amir's part.
Another interesting part of the story is that it is set with Afghanistan in the background and the author has also done a really fantastic job of portraying Afghanistan and how it has changed over these years from a common man's perspective.
I had initially ignored this book because I thought it was all about Afghanistan, taliban and the war and we hear enough of that in the news. But there is no political agenda just a very real story. I would highly recommend this book
Namesake (***)This book starts of well exploring the life of Indian immigrants and their kids in the US. After reading this book, I sort of realized that ABCD (American born confused desi) is a misnomer. It is not the American born child who is confused. But it is the desi parents. The child knows what want values/customs they want to adopt from America/India. It is the parents who are torn/confused on how much of the Indian customs do they push on the child or to what extent they accept the American traditions for the sake of the kids.
The author has handled the story of Ashima and Ashok very well - their values, how they try to cling to their memory of india by celebrating festivals with Indian friends or making Indian delicacies with American ingredients and how at the same they are ready to accommodate and change for the sake of their children who are more American than Indian by celebrating Christmas, thanksgiving and halloween.
She has also done a good job of portraying Gogol as well and how he wants a life totally different from what he had as a kid with his parents. This is shown in how easily he falls in love with his relationship with Maxine. Maxine and her family are poles apart from his. But after that I sort of lost interest cause it gets boring. I don't really understand why he marries Moushami or why he suddenly hates her friends. Basically I just don't get the whole Moushami thing.
I think where I find the book totally lacking was that they did not have anything about Sonia. They did not explore much her relationship with Gogol, how they were alike or different and why her life turned out much better than his.
It is a good read starts of well but somehow once Ashok died I sort of just wanted to get done with it.
