Monday, November 06, 2006

Kite Runner

If you haven't read Kite Runner yet, I highly recommend reading it. It's a tragic story about the life of a man who leaves Aghanistan at a young age due to political turmoil. It's a moving story of betrayal and redemption and I'll wager that no one has read it without at least getting a little misty eyed. I thought of this quote from the Bahai Writings while reading it: "He should forgive the sinful, and never despise his low estate, for none knoweth what his own end shall be. How often hath a sinner, at the hour of death, attained to the essence of faith, and, quaffing the immortal draught, hath taken his flight unto the celestial Concourse. And how often hath a devout believer, at the hour of his soul's ascension, been so changed as to fall into the nethermost fire."

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 193)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Best book I have ever read :)

leila said...

didn't like it as much as others seem to---i could have dispensed with the second half entirely. the first half was good, though.

Bill said...

The cultural aspect was good but quite a tragic backdrop. The moral dilemas - loyalty and betrayal, social power blinding one to purity of soul... very moving. BillT

Victor said...

Hey Justin,

Great Blog! You've gotta check out the book "The Places in Between." It's written by the Scottish guy who walked across Afghanistan in 2003 and is a remarkable tale. A real adventure. Though it is non-fiction, some aspects of it reminded me of Kite Runner. I wrote a bit about it here: http://anxiouslyconcerned.blogspot.com/2006/09/two-journeys.html