The book is set in 1970s Afghanistan, where we meet 12 year old Amir who lives with his rich father and leads a priviledged life, and his best friend Hassan who is the son of Amir's fathers servant. Hassan and his father are Hazara, and considered to be nothing more then good servants. Amir goes to school and learns to read and write, whereas Hassan stays at home and does menial jobs, Amir often mocks Hassan because he is illiterate. But both boys enjoy the past time of flying kites, and with Hassan being a great kite runner, Amir plans to win back the love of his father by winning the local kite-fighting tournament. But things go wrong and Hassan is hurt by a twisted boy named Hermann who is half german/half afghan and has a sick mind. After Amir flees from the scene leaving Hassan in Hermanns clutches, he realises things can never be the same again between him and his loyal friend. Years later when Amir is married and living in America, he is stil haunted by what happened to Hassan. And when given the chance to go back to a Taliban ruled Afghanistan to make things right, Amir knows he has to.

When i first picked up this book, it was purely because i hadn't seen the movie. And there were times i wished i hadn't picked up the book at all, because it's full of trauma and its upsetting. But it's also about friendship and loyalty, and trying to make things right. What happens to Hassan is hard to read, and Amirs cowardice is frustrating, but the book is powerful and the friendship between the two boys as they grow up is described in a great way. And the ending of the book is almost how you "need" it to be. Although i probably wont ever see the film, and the book is sometimes hard to read. I liked the way it was written.