Creative Writing: The Kite Runner

It was the end of the quarter and I had to write an essay exam on a book that I read. My hands were shaking and my palms were sweating and I kept jiggling my right leg up and down. Even though I was nervous I felt that I would be successful. I was more worried that the questions wouldn’t fit my book or I just wouldn’t be able to think of anything to write about. The classroom was filled to the max with the posters we had to make about ourselves and cabinets with books, movies and school supplies. I sat down at my assigned seat just staring off into space waiting for class to start. When class started I had to stand for the pledge of allegiance and then listen to the school announcements. The questions were set in front of me and I was off.

I pulled out my enormous list of books and started going through them. I had no clue who any of these authors were and I’d never heard of the books before. I had to cross off the books I’d read like Of Mice and Mean, Lord of the Flies, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As I went down the list I came across the name Khaled Hosseini and the title The Kite Runner. I marked it down as one of the books I wanted to read. I found a couple more; The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, Pride and the Prejudice, The Grapes of Wrath, and Tess of the D’urbervilles. My sister took me to Barnes and Nobles later that week and I set out to find my books. I walked down the aisles filled with many books, paperback and hardcover, till I came across the books I wanted. One look at Tess of the D’ubervilles and I instantly thought no way am I reading this book. One, it had too many pages and two, the cover of the book didn’t appeal to my eyes at all. When I got to Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner wasn’t there so I thought I might take a gander at his other books. There was only A Thousand Splendid Suns and And the Mountains Echoed. I fell in love with A Thousand Splendid Suns the moment I read what it was about because I would be learning about Afghanistan and the Taliban. I left the store with a smile on my face and more pep in my

From the moment I opened the book Hosseini grabbed at my emotions. The book is about two lives, Mariam and Laila, which end up connecting in a twisted way. Mariam, is forced by her father to marry Rasheed who is abusive both physically and mentally. Laila, who lives down the street from Mariam and Rasheed ends up having to marry Rasheed and produce heirs for him. War eventually hits Kabul and bombs start falling regularly. I learned a great deal about culture form this book. Kabul was known for women’s advancement and the rest of Afghanistan was on their way to women equality until the Taliban took reign. The Taliban made strict rules for the women; they weren’t allowed to be anywhere without a male relative and had to wear a burqa when leaving the house. If any women were to break these rules they would be beaten. The more I read this book the more fascinating culture became to