The Kite Runner Study Guide

Khaled Hosseini was born in Afghanistan, where his father worked as a diplomat and his mother as a teacher. When Hosseini was eleven the family moved to France, and later they were unable to return to Afghanistan because of the Soviet War. Hosseini’s family then applied for asylum in the United States, and they moved to California when Hosseini was fifteen. Hosseini went to medical school at the University of California and worked as a doctor for ten years, until the success of The Kite Runner allowed him to work full time as a writer. Much like Amir, Hosseini did not return to Afghanistan until he was 38 years old. The Kite Runner is his first and best-known novel, but his other works are A Thousand Splendid Suns and And the Mountains Echoed. Hosseini lives in California with his wife and two children.

The Kite Runner progresses through much of the historical turmoil of contemporary Afghanistan, starting with King Zahir Shah, who was overthrown by his cousin Daoud Khan in 1973. The communist party then took power in 1978, which led to The Soviet War involving Russian forces and US-backed mujahideen guerillas. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the country became the Islamic State of Afghanistan, but violent infighting between parties continued. In 1996 the Taliban, an ultra-conservative Islamic group, took control of the country and began imposing a strict and violent religious rule. The Kite Runner ends soon after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center by al-Qaeda terrorists, the subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, and the fall of the Taliban.

As a child, Hosseini was greatly influenced by ancient Persian poets like Rumi and Hafez. West of Kabul, East of New York is another popular contemporary book (though non-fiction) about an experience emigrating from Afghanistan to America. Sixteen Days in Afghanistan is a documentary directed by Anwar Hajher that describes an Afghan man returning home after many years abroad to rediscover his country.