Before reading The Kite Runner, I decided to investigate what other people thought about the book themselves and did some research. I was not interested in reading this book at all and put all my reading to the side. Finally when I started reading this book I could not put it back down, although the first few pages went by kind of slow to me. It wasn't until all the trouble Hassan went through that I became seriously glued the book. Amir and Hassan's unique relationship made me question why Amir wasn't willing to stick up for Hassan, and why he would treat him the way he did. As I kept reading, I became more interested in how their relationship was torn apart and it started to frustrate me because I wanted Amir to react the way I would have. My life growing up it was a lot different from how life was for Amir and Hassan, so the way I value friendship was never a matter of religion like in Afghanistan, but a matter of trust. I was so eager to finish the book to find out what happened to their friendship. This book was a lot like a movie with a bad ending, it just left me wondering and asking questions.
Since The Kite Runner took place in another country it was difficult to understand the political point of views in Afghanistan, whom is still struggling today and that's what I have been raised to know. Only with reading this book was I given the chance to actually think about the way the people view their own home land. Baba was a proud working dad, and did well for himself. Before the war struck, it seemed like Afghanistan was a decent place to be, especially for Amir. Amir had lived in higher class his entire childhood life. It just didn't make sense because usually wars are intended to fix a problem, and this war seemed to take Afghanistan to the ruins.
I think Khaled Hosseini did an amazing job at writing this novel. It really had me thinking about things in a different perspective. For annotating I think I did very well although this was my first book ever annotating it seemed to be simple for me. I used the second example shown on the website, and summarized each chapter, so if I ever need a quote it will be simple for me to find. I also created a glossary and index. The annotating really helped me get more hands on with the book & i feel it helped me understand it easier. Since this book has a lot of different languages mixed in, I used little hints for common words that were used often so I would know what they ment.
