#2

Leadser Post

The general name given to this plan was Operation Thunderclap

Final Quarter 2 Post

I finished The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini tonight. After Amir and Soraya get married they try to have children and are unable to. Amir is upset by this and sees this as a punishment for what he did in the past. Many years later Rahim Khan, Baba's friend calls and tells Amir to travel to Pakistan for urgent business. After Amir gets to Pakistan, Rahim Khan tells Amir that Hassan and his wife were killed by the Taliban and that Hassan is actually Amir's half brother. Rahim Khan also tells Amir that Hassan and his wife had a son Sohrab who is now in an orphanage. Amir decides to venture into Afghanistan to try and find Sohrab. Amir goes to the orphanage in Kabul but the owner tells him he has sold Sohrab to the Taliban and to speak with a Taliban man at a soccer game tomorrow to get him back. At the soccer game Amir watches this Taliban man kill two civilians in front of the whole crowd and than arranges a meeting with him at a Taliban headquarters. Amir arrives and realizes that the Taliban member is Assef, the same man who raped Hassan thirty years ago. Amir fights Assef and when Amir is almost dead Sohrab shoots Assef's eye out with a slingshot and they get away. After spending days in the hospital, Amir tries to adopt Sohrab but is unable to because of legal problems. Later that day Amir goes back on his promise to Sohrab ad tells him he will have to put put in an orphanage. Later that night Soraya calls to tell Amir that she got Sohrab a visa but when Amir finds Sohrab he is bleeding to death in the bathroom. Amir takes Sohrab to the hospital and he survives his suicide attempt. Amir ends up taking Sohrab back to America with him but Sohrab never says a word or smiles. Finally the book ends two years after Amir brings Sohrab to America with Sohrab smiling at Amir when they are flying a kite. 

I liked The Kite Runner a lot and it is one of my favorite books I have ever read for an outside reading project. The plotline was sad but was very good because of its many surprises. I also think I learned a lot about the history of Afghanistan while reading the book because the book starts in the 1970s and ends in 2002. Overall I enjoyed The Kite Runner a lot and would recommend it to anyone.

Outside Reading Quarter 2 Post #8

In the next part of The Kite Runner, Amir continues to go to the flea market with Baba and continues to see the Afghan General and his daughter Soraya. After going to the flea market for several weeks Amir finally gets enough courage to start to chat with Soraya, something that is looked down in Afghan standards unless the father of the girl has approved of it. Amir and Soraya's conversation goes well, so Amir continues to visit Soraya when the general leaves for a walk. One day when Amir is visiting Soraya and giving her one of his books, the general notices them and reminds Amir that people are watching. Shortly after that Baba ends up in the hospital, after examining him the doctors realize that Baba has lung cancer. The doctors recomend that he does chemotherapy, but after learning that it is only pallative, Baba refuses despite Amir's protests. Over the next few weeks Baba continues to become weaker and lose more and more weight. When Baba has became very weak Amir asks Baba if he could go to the general's house and ask Baba for Soraya's hand in marriage. Baba is happy to do this and the general and Soraya accept the proposal. Soraya and Amir's families soon have a celebration at Soraya's house and a wedding that Baba pays $30,000 for (all of his savings). After the wedding Soraya moves into Amir and Baba' house and takes care of Baba. A few weeks later at a party, after watching Amir chat and play cards Baba tells Amir he doesn't want his painkiller that night. Baba doesn't wake up. Even though I expected Amir to marry Soraya, I was suprised that Baba died. Now I wonder how the story will shift back to Afghanistan without Baba.

In the next section of The Kite Runner Baba and Amir when they have time go to garage sales and buy things at a cheap price. On the weekend they then sell these items at a mostly Afghan market for a small profit. One time when Baba and Amir go to the market, Baba meets a prestigous Afghan general who like Baba was a man of high class before he was forced to flee Afghanistan. While Baba talks to the general Amir notices the generals daughter. After they leave the market Amir asks Baba about the general's daughter and Baba realizes that Amir likes her and warns him that her last relationship didn't go very well. I am glad that the author included something eventful like this because the plot was getting boring but I still don't really understand why the book is explaining the life of Baba and Amir in America. I feel like the setting needs to switch back to Afghanistan because that is where the most climatic parts of the book have happened and where lots of character building took place. For those reasons, I predict that Amir will fall in love with the generals daughter and go back to Afghanistan with her, Baba and the general to find Hassan. I believe that they will try to find Hassan because I would be dissapointed if Amir doesn't see Hassan again in the novel because the main conflict in the novel so far has been Amir dealing with Hassan after Hassan was raped.

Outside Reading Quarter 2 Post #7

After Baba and Amir reach Pakistan they soon immigrate to America and live in an apartment in Freemont, California. Baba likes the idea of America and enjoys talking about politics, but misses Kabul and doesn't like the smog of the Bay Area. Baba also has rough times adjusting to his new life. One day when Baba goes to a grocery store he has gone to often and wants to but fruit with a check, the cashier asks him for his ID and Baba gets very angry and makes a mess in the store asking "What kind of country is this no one trusts anybody". Also when Amir graduates from high school Baba spends a lot of money on a nice dinner and than treats everyone in a nearby bar to plenty of drinks. Baba also pays for Amir to go to a junior college and buys him a car to get there, but is disappointed when Amir chooses to study creative writing. I think that the main theme of this chapter is the continuation of Baba adjusting to a new lifestyle. In this new lifestyle Baba still has his pride he had as a high class society member, which is shown when he refuses to go to ESL english classes and when he refuses to get food stamps the welfare office offers him. But something that is surprising about Baba and his new lifestyle is that Baba sacrifices a lot for Amir, even though the relationship between them hasn't been great and Baba previously had said that he almost couldn't believe that Amir was his son because the two are so different.

Outside Reading Quarter 2 Post #6

After Hassan and his father leave the Baba and Amir's house, the story shifts to several years later when Amir and Baba had to leave their house behind and are on a truck trying to get into Pakistan. The truck driver and his brother have deals with the border patrol and are charging money to get across the border. They get to city near the Pakistan border and are told that the truck that is used to get into Pakistan is now broken and that they must wait a while. Baba accusses the driver of knowing this before he took the money and gets very angry. However with the chaos in Afghanistan Baba no longer has upper class status so he can do very little. After waiting a week in a cramped basement the truck finally is fixed and brings them to Pakistan . I feel like this is a turning point in the book and that the rest of the book will be much different than the first part. Baba and Amir are leaving Afghanistan and with it leaving their high social class, big fancy parties and servents behind. This is shown when Baba gets angry at the truck driver but the truck driver doesn't care all that much. Also Amir is still just as unlike Baba as he use to be, which is shown when Amir throws up in the first truck and needs his father's light in the second truck.