Kite Runner, The

The Kite Runner[rating:5/5]

Has it really been that long since I’ve read a book? Apparently so – just too many other things going on (almost none of which have been “fun”). Anyway, I just finished Kite Runner a few days ago and am finally getting around to writing a review of it; here it is:

Without question, this is a fabulous book; in fact, it is one of the most beautifully written that I’ve had the pleasure of reading in a very long time. Not only is the story extremely well crafted and the characters extraordinarily human, but the author, Mr. Hosseini, has an astonishing gift to tell a story in which each personality is fully exposed – the good, along with the bad. His work is so masterful, that one quickly becomes deeply immersed with key figures to an extent where their emotional tenor is almost felt as if they were your own. Considering that this story evolves around a boy from Afghanistan who later emigrates to the United States – a background that is most certainly foreign (no pun indented) to that of most readers (including myself) – Mr. Hosseini has been able to delve into the human psyche that transcends cultural boundaries.

One thing that I found to be particularly fascinating is the author himself comes from a background as a non-native English speaker, and yet reaches a level of expressiveness through his words that transcend even the most astute authors in a manner that makes his prose not only live, but conveys meaning through a richness that is uncommonly good.

Of course, not all that occurs in the Kite Runner is good; not by any means. In fact, some of it is rather horrifying and evil but, for the sake of spoiling the story for others, I will not go into those details here. Furthermore, the story takes many surprising and unexpected twists (I confess, I had no idea what the story was about prior to reading it), but that only adds to the effectiveness of the plot.

Kites

Kites[rating:4/5]

This book is, without question, an exemplary work on the fascinating topic of kites. This work explores their history in detail and should certainly be in the library of anyone who is interested in the subject.Sadly, there are some problems with this book that are certainly unrelated to its content but, due to their ability to interfere with reading it, must be mentioned here. Never, and I mean this literally, have I ever read a book which was published using such incredibly small type and my vision certainly isn’t that bad. The type used is so small that it’s almost impossible to read much without getting distracted. Furthermore, the type used for captions to the many great photographs and drawings is even smaller. Then, to compound matters, the ink used for text reflects light in such a way that one can only read the book when positioned properly. According to the cover pages, the book was printed in China and, I don’t know if they used poor printing techniques or where just trying to save money but this book is, without question, the most poorly published I’ve ever come across. About my only criticism regarding the content of this book is that it could use a quick edit as there are few items that get annoying very quickly; in particular, the author’s (or editor’s) decision to use the metric system (nothing wrong with that, per se) but that those measurements are consistently then provided using the imperial system with that number being preceded with the word “say.” For example, the kite measured one meter (say 1.09 yards), etc. The strange use of the word “say” (which often appears several times on a page) gets to be really irritating.

Granted, this review is rather different but the poor publishing and editing decisions greatly interfere with what would otherwise be an incredible book.