One Final Time

In this, my final book post, I am going to be horribly contrary to the popular opinions regarding the book, as a fair warning to all. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Looking at the book as a whole, I think it is an interesting combination of events, all leading up to tragedy, betrayal, and eventually, redemption. Many of my literature circle group members found that because Hassan dies, the overall message of the book is tainted and no longer valid. I found that they seemed to be frustrated with the lack of am ending that lies on either extreme, happy or sad. I myself found this ending to be a nice contrast to the rest of the book, a glimpse , a hope of a better future to come, a happier one. Instead of the usual foreshadowing of more sorrow to come, we get this.

One aspect of this book I found frustrating is that of all the people who died, Assef was not one of them. If I were to assign numbers to people on who should have died if people had to die, Assef would probably have been on the top of my list. I find it sickening that after all the horrible things that he has done, he is considered to be something of a hero among many members of the Kabul community. He has stolen, raped, tortured, and killed many people and he is still considered a benefactor to those people. So, I am extremely annoyed that he was left standing with only a severe injury, one that a guy like him would survive easily.

One think that we argued about a lot in our discussion earlier today was how Amir played into all of this, weather everything was his fault or just an unlucky series of events. It was argued that Amir caused everything when he sent Hassan away after Assef abused him. That EVERYTHING from that point on is all Amir’s fault. However, they weren’t taking into consideration the factors that forces outside our story’s view would have. People that Hassan met that our narrator never knew about, people who changed his life. I suppose that’s everything for now...