Biography about khaled hosseini wikipedia free encyclopedia

novel by Khaled Hosseini

This article is about the novel. For the film, see The Kite Runner (film). For the play, see Kite Runner (play).

The Kite Runner is the debut novel of Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. Published in by Riverhead Books, it tells the story of Amir, a young Afghan boy from Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, beginning with the collapse of Afghanistan's monarchy and the Afghan conflict that sparked shortly thereafter, with a particular focus on the Soviet–Afghan War and the mass exodus of Afghan refugees, as well as the rise of the Taliban regime.

Hosseini has commented that he considers The Kite Runner to be a father–son relationship story, emphasizing the familial aspects of the narrative, an element that he continued to use in his later works. Themes of guilt and redemption feature prominently in the novel, with a pivotal scene depicting an act of sexual assault inflicted upon Amir's friend Hassan, which Amir fails to prevent, and which ends their friendship. The latter half of the book centers on Amir's attempts to atone for this transgression by rescuing Hassan's son two decades later.

The Kite Runner became a bestseller after being printed in paperback and was popularized in book clubs. It appeared on the The New York Times Best Seller list for over two years, with over seven million copies sold in the United States. Reviews were generally positive, though parts of the plot drew significant controversy in Afghanistan. A number of adaptations were created following publication, including a film of the same name, several stage performances, and a graphic novel. The novel is also available in a multi-CD audiobook narrated by the author.

Composition and publication

Khaled Hosseini lived and worked as a medical internist at Kaiser Hospital in Mountain View, California for several year

novel by Khaled Hosseini

And the Mountains Echoed is the third novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. Published in by Riverhead Books, it deviates from Hosseini's style in his first two works through his choice to avoid focusing on any one character. Rather, the book is written similarly to a collection of short stories, with each of the nine chapters being told from the perspective of a different character. The book's foundation is built on the relationship between ten-year-old Abdullah and his three-year-old sister Pari and their father's decision to sell her to a childless couple in Kabul, an event that ties the various narratives together.

Hosseini stated his intentions to make the characters more complex and morally ambiguous. Continuing the familial theme established in his previous novels, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, And the Mountains Echoed centers on the rapport between siblings. Besides Abdullah and Pari, Hosseini introduced two other sibling and sibling-like relationships—the children's stepmother Parwana and her disabled sister Masooma and an Afghan-American doctor named Idris and his cousin Timur.

As it was Hosseini's first novel to be published in six years, And the Mountains Echoed was reportedly in high demand. It received favorable pre-publication reviews and was anticipated as another strong success, reaching the top 10 on before its release and later becoming a bestseller. Five months after the publication of And the Mountains Echoed, it was reported that three million copies had been sold.

Composition and publication

Khaled Hosseini was born in Afghanistan but left the country in at the age of 11, eventually moving to the United States where he worked as a doctor. He wrote his first novel, The Kite Runner, in and became a full-time writer a year and a half later. He published his second book, A Thousand Splen