For you, a thousand times over
I've read an interesting article on how making of movie based on The Kite Runner is reviving the traditional kite craft businesses in Kabul after the Taliban-imposed decades of banning.
Kabul in the seventies, as depicted in the novel, doesn't seem not much different from my own childhood in Korea in the early eighties. Recurring preoccupation of the Afghan children, such as the kite fighting in the winter (a major theme in the novel) is something that you could have transplanted thousands of miles across the Asian continent into the memories of my own childhood. It's sad that so few pictures and images of Afghanistan in the peaceful days have survived through decades of warfare and cultural eradication. Then again, landscape in Seoul has changed dramatically (fortunately, due to the dizzying economic advances), with hills and open fields replaced by a megapolis of nondescript high-rises, and few children these days give thoughts to brave the wintry elements, preferring instead, the comforts of their game consoles hooked up to the flat-screen TVs.
In this age of economy, productivity and practicality, doing anything for anyone just once, let alone a "thousand times over" seems to be a quixotic stretch. Yet, when Hassan swears to Amir, "for you, a thousand times over," I have no doubts that Hassan sincerely will live up to his promises, at least nine hundred and ninety nine times again after he's lived up to his word, without a single moment's judgement on whether the request was a just or a fair one. While I often lament that I don't have enough people like Hassan in my life, I am turning a blind eye on myself -- because in truth, I know that underneath it all, I'm often more like Amir than Hassan, questioning if a friend "deserves" my loyalty and servitute. I make more money every year, but I feel less rich and find myself more wanting, full of petty judgement and shallow manipulations. I have a feeling that corrective insights probably won't come from the Business Week best sellers that are crowding my bookshelf these days.... hmmmph.
I digress. The first half of the The Kite Runner, rich with subtle foreshadowing and fleeting emotional glimpses that, for me, was a much more enjoyable reading than the latter half, which accelerates to a pace worth of a 90 minute Hollywood flick, with over-the-top plot development. I have a mixed feeling about recommending this novel -- while the writing has its own merits and the plot rich with themes of friendship, secrets, betrayal, ethnic tensions, integrity, courage and redemption (just to list a few) are worthy of a satisfying discussion among any book club circles, having spent a good half day reading the book, if the movie version could be as well made as, say, The Namesake, then I'd say, wait for the movie and save yourself a few hours. Then again, meeing Hassan and larger-than-life characters like Baba might be worth a rainy Saturday afternoon on the couch.
Kabul in the seventies, as depicted in the novel, doesn't seem not much different from my own childhood in Korea in the early eighties. Recurring preoccupation of the Afghan children, such as the kite fighting in the winter (a major theme in the novel) is something that you could have transplanted thousands of miles across the Asian continent into the memories of my own childhood. It's sad that so few pictures and images of Afghanistan in the peaceful days have survived through decades of warfare and cultural eradication. Then again, landscape in Seoul has changed dramatically (fortunately, due to the dizzying economic advances), with hills and open fields replaced by a megapolis of nondescript high-rises, and few children these days give thoughts to brave the wintry elements, preferring instead, the comforts of their game consoles hooked up to the flat-screen TVs.
In this age of economy, productivity and practicality, doing anything for anyone just once, let alone a "thousand times over" seems to be a quixotic stretch. Yet, when Hassan swears to Amir, "for you, a thousand times over," I have no doubts that Hassan sincerely will live up to his promises, at least nine hundred and ninety nine times again after he's lived up to his word, without a single moment's judgement on whether the request was a just or a fair one. While I often lament that I don't have enough people like Hassan in my life, I am turning a blind eye on myself -- because in truth, I know that underneath it all, I'm often more like Amir than Hassan, questioning if a friend "deserves" my loyalty and servitute. I make more money every year, but I feel less rich and find myself more wanting, full of petty judgement and shallow manipulations. I have a feeling that corrective insights probably won't come from the Business Week best sellers that are crowding my bookshelf these days.... hmmmph.
I digress. The first half of the The Kite Runner, rich with subtle foreshadowing and fleeting emotional glimpses that, for me, was a much more enjoyable reading than the latter half, which accelerates to a pace worth of a 90 minute Hollywood flick, with over-the-top plot development. I have a mixed feeling about recommending this novel -- while the writing has its own merits and the plot rich with themes of friendship, secrets, betrayal, ethnic tensions, integrity, courage and redemption (just to list a few) are worthy of a satisfying discussion among any book club circles, having spent a good half day reading the book, if the movie version could be as well made as, say, The Namesake, then I'd say, wait for the movie and save yourself a few hours. Then again, meeing Hassan and larger-than-life characters like Baba might be worth a rainy Saturday afternoon on the couch.
posted by choongster at 9:22 PM
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