Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, it is Hosseini's first novel,[1] and was adapted into a film of the same name in2007.
The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, whose closest friend is Hassan, his father's young Hazaraservant. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of Afghanistan's monarchy through the Soviet invasion, the exodus of refugees to Pakistan andthe United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime.

The Kite Runner received the South African Boeke Prize in 2004. It was the first 2005 best seller in theUnited States, according to Nielsen BookScan.[9] It was also voted the Reading Group Book of the Year for 2006 and 2007 and headed a list of 60 titles submitted by entrantsto the Penguin/Orange Reading Group prize (UK).[10][11]

The Kite Runner has been accused of hindering Western understanding of the Taliban by portraying Talibanmembers as representatives of various social and doctrinal evils not typically attributed to the Taliban (take, for example, Assef's pedophilia, Nazism, drug abuse andsadism, and the fact that he is an executioner).[12] The American Library Association reports that The Kite Runner is one of its most-challenged books of 2008, withmultiple attempts to remove it from libraries due to "offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group."[13]
Afghanistan's Ministry of Culture banned thefilm from distribution in cinemas or DVD stores, citing the possibility that the movie's ethnically charged rape scene could incite racial violence within Afghanistan.[14]