The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Before watching an old movie over the summer, I saw a preview for this book-turned-movie. I remember my mother and grandmother reading it and found it sitting on the bookshelf at my camp. I asked for my grandmother's permission and borrowed it from our camp, bringing it home and leaving it sitting on a table in my room for a few months. After a few months passed and I finished reading the current book for English class, I was looking for a good book and re-stumbled upon this. I picked it up and immediately couldn't put it down. I found myself taking this book out of my backpack during the school day, and staying up later than I should have, not being able to pull myself away. The setting immediately intrigued me, as I am one to search for knowledge of other cultures. What I did not expect, though, was how much I could relate to the characters. Although the tragedy of the story is more horrific than anything I could ever live through, the feelings of guilt, sorrow, and Amir's ability to eventually absolve his heavy self-inflicted burdens reminded me of my past and inspired me for my future.
I immediately became attached to every single one of the characters. Most books I have read have an easily lovable character and an easily hateable one, though as I learned about the regretful pasts of many of the characters, I could not help but to love them even more.
The growth and actions of the characters really made me think about my own life and how I've been living. I don't want to give away the ending, so I will keep it vague, but it truly inspired me. The way Amir acted at the end of the story, though he lived his whole life with the guilt of many important parts of his and his father's life, he acted with courage and ultimate strength.
When I make decisions now, and sometimes even randomly during the day, I think of this book and of Amir, Hassan, and Baba. It makes me think of how much your decisions can affect another person's entire life and how much courage counts. Courage, strength, and redemption: three very important things in life that this book taught me to always think about. Courage, for being able to strive for what you want; strength, to be able to persevere; and redemption, knowing that as long as you have the courage and strength to strive and persevere, you will be forgiven, in some way, shape, or form.