Title: The Kite Runner
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Date: 2003
Type of work: Novel
Language: English
Protagonist: Amir
Setting (time): 1975 through 2001
Setting (place): Afghanistan; California
Genre: Bildungsroman; Redemption story
* Published in 70 countries
* Paperback - on bestseller list for 219 weeks (#1 for 4 weeks)
* Book Sense Bestseller List Sensation
* Boeke Prize
* Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award
* ALA Notable Book
* Alex Award
* Borders Original Voices Award, 2003
* Entertainment Weekly's Best Book, 2003
* San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, 2003
* Literature to Life Award
Ali Hassan's father; Sanauber's husband; servant to Baba
Assef bully who joins the Taliban; a sociopath
Baba Amir's father; Rahim Khan business partner; leader in Kabul
Dr. Armand Faruqi surgeon who treats Amir after being beaten by Assef
Farid taxi driver who takes Amir back to Afghanistan; Wahid’s brother
Farzana Hassan's wife and Sohrab's mother
General Sahib (Iqbal Taheri) friend of Baba's in America; father to Soraya
Hassan Amir's friend and servant; a Hazara and Shi'a Muslim; Ali and Sanauber's son; Farzana's husband
Kaka Sharif Soraya's uncle
Kamal childhood follower of Assef
Khala Taheri (Khala Jamila) wife of General Taheri and mother to Soraya
Omar Faisal lawyer who counsels Amir to place Sohrab in an orphanage temporarily
Rahim Khan Baba's best friend and business partner; father-figure to Amir
Raymond Andrews official at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan
Sanaubar Hassan's mother
Sharif Soraya’s uncle; instrumental in helping to get Sohrab into the United States
Sofia Akrami Baba's wife; Amir's mother; died in childbirth; professor of literature at the university
Sohrab Hassan and Farzana's son; Rahim Khan uses him to lure Amir back to the Middle East
Soraya Amir's wife
Wahid Farid's brother
Wali childhood follower of Assef
Zaman director of the orphanage in Kabul
Afghan culture
Betrayal
Choices
Class Distinctions
Coming of age
Competition
Courage and cowardice
Cruelty
Cultural differences
Discrimination
Ethnic tensions
Family ties
Fathers and sons
Forgiveness
Fear
Freedom
Friendship
Good and evil
Guilt
Happiness
Healing
Honor
Immigrant experience
Immigrant experience and the American Dream
Injustice
Literature and writing
Living up to parents’ expectations
Love
Loyalty
Lying
Politics
Power
Principles
Race
Redemption
Religion
Salvation
Search for Identity
Truth
Violence
Wealth