Seyma Ozen

Everything about The Kite Runner was garbage. Right from the jump, the dialogue felt fake, and the exchanges between the half-brothers, Amir and Hassan, were shockingly suggestive and inappropriate given their age which made me believe the author was trying to sexualize Muslim friendships. This escalated as the story progressed into what felt like trauma-porn. sexual assault appeared in almost every chapter in detailed, unrealistic ways, which makes me think that the author has some kind of fetish, especially given the pathetic, manufactured coincidences that drive the entire plot, like running into the same predator. I found the language cringy and vulgar, the symbolism excessive, and the characters utterly worthless: Amir reads like an evil sociopath with no development, and Baba is a disgusting hypocrite who abandons his son. Most importantly I believe the book misrepresents Afghan culture and history, it uses orientalist and Islamophobic language to push a shallow, propagandistic, pro-Western narrative that unfairly exploits Afghan pain.