The Kite Runner is a Sprint from Start to Finish

Khaled Hosseini's debut novel, "The Kite Runner," is a compelling story told through the eyes of Amir, the son of Baba, a wealthy, charismatic Kabul businessman. Hosseini paints a vivid illustration of the boy's life from his 70s childhood in Afghanistan to his adult life in the San Francisco Bay area. Each chapter ends with a cliffhanger that teases the reader with enough tension to implore one to read on and answer the proverbial question, "What happens next?"

The running conflict throughout most of the novel is the gap between the aspiring writer, clumsy, prone-to-car-sickness Amir and his father Baba, who is a gregarious larger-than-life character in love with the game of soccer. If all these apparent differences were not enough, Amir's mother died during childbirth, thus an instant chasm had been formed between the father and son from the start. Also, in the mix are the Hazara servants of Baba, Ali and his son, Hassan, who seems to find more favor with Baba due to the boy's raw physicalness and quick intelligence. The jealousy experienced by Amir towards Hassan proves to be a conflict that does not resolve its self till the satisfying, box-office like conclusion of the novel (movie rights to the novel have been sold).

"The Kite Runner's" storyline is taunt; there are no wasted sentences here, just a plain good old charater-driven plot with worthy conflicts. Hosseini has managed to paint an intimate canvas chronicling one Afghani man's struggles and triumphs across several decades.