I have not seen the movie so this is solely based on the novel by Khaled Hosseini. I went somewhat backwards having first read A Thousand Splendid Suns and then this novel. While I enjoyed them both, The Kite Runner left me somewhat depressed when the other left me feeling uplifted. The story is very intense and I seriously hated the main character for most of the book. I was called in for jury duty a while back and I was reading A Thousand Splendid Suns while waiting to be called in and a fellow juror expressed to me that she believed if everyone in America read these books there would be no racism. While I admire her optimism I believe people have their biases and wont change over a book, however I do feel that these books would at least instill a certain amount of compassion towards the people who have immigrated here from such dire circumstances. These novels take you deep into the heart of the war in the middle east from both a female and male perspective. I do recommend both of these books, just perhaps not for a little light summer reading.
