The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
In "The Anna Russell Album", singer and musician Anna Russell shows what it is like to be introduced at a concert of the Women's Club by its president.
As you know, our organization stands for the better things in art, not expecting either reward or enjoyment. Because we feel that music is so important in our lives we should all listen to it even if we don't like it. We should grit our teeth and grin and bear it and try harder.
Like all good satire, this works because it's close to the truth. Indeed, one can easily get the impression that there exist many people who believe that the sign of Great Art is that it makes you suffer, and the more you suffer, the greater it is.
If you are such a person, then you will, I suspect, think highly of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. I won't say you will enjoy it, because "enjoy" is obviously not the point. Listening to this audiobook was, for me, a long painful experience.
Now, I hasten to add that I am NOT claiming that everyone who thinks The Kite Runner is a good book is in it purely for the pain. There are undoubtedly excellent reasons, imperceptible to me, for esteeming this novel highly. You like what you like, and I like what I like, and no one should be surprised if those things are different.
When I began reading The Kite Runner I knew almost nothing about Afghanistan. Having read it I now know very slightly more than almost nothing. That is a good thing, and for that reason I rate it two stars rather than one.