Book #10 — The Kite Runner
Theme — A book written by a person of colour
Right now, when I look at this subtitle, I wonder why did they name it so. As an Indian, it really does not matter to me what colour someone is, to be an author.
I had heard from many people over the years what a great book this was, how eloquently the author describes his country, Afghanistan. There was also this time, when all of his books were topping charts, seen at book stores in the bestselling corner, written about in op eds in newspapers. And it just struck me, it was all around the time great war ended in Afghanistan in the early half of this decade. World was aghast at how people were treated in the country, the lack of human rights. Malala happened to the world. And I realised the people who were talking so much about this book were the Westerners. The very people who see the author as a person of colour. Sometimes, this world and the people in it defy my logic.
But I realise, for most parts of the West which is not tuned to their TV sets or to world politics, who are simple people who live their lives in the relative safety of their First World country, this story is heart breaking.
The innocence of the beginning, the violence and assurance of the ending is just poetic. But at the same time, haunting. I cannot imagine being helpless in the face of such atrocity and tragedy on such scale. Maybe, I will be labelled elitist for saying this, because I am sitting at my desk somewhere typing on my $1000 machine in an air conditioned room. I remember, the time the Taliban bombed the Bamiyan Buddha and danced over the powdered remains of the symbol of peace. I was younger and very impressionable. It was beyond me to understand why would they derive such perverse pleasure from destroying an art like that. Now I realise, after finishing the book, they wanted to take away any symbol that represented hope and love.
They wanted the sole control of a country’s soul.
