There is a way to be good again.
The Kite Runner.
Shalom:
This morning I finished The Kite Runner and rented the movie as well.
While there is much left out of the movie, it does capture the heart and is very faithful to the book, though I believe Baba came off a little harder in the movie.
First, it is not an easy book to read or movie to watch.
The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a young boy from Wazir Akba district of Kabud and his friend/Servant Hassan. There are times one cannot tell if the affection Amir feels for Hassan is indeed friendship or that one would feel for a beloved pet.
While set in Kabul, it story is one that is known throughout the world; one that crosses time and space.
It is a difference of culture: Amir is Pashun. Hassan is Hazara.
It is a difference of religion; Amir is Sunni and Hassan Shi'a.
It is a difference of class: Amir is wealthy. Hassan is his servant.
And yet they love each other like brothers.
It is a boy, Amir wanting the love and respect of his father. So much so he is to be silent to a brutal assault, to lie and even setup the fall of another to get it.
It is a father, finally learning to love his son.
It is Amir, finding and recieving forgivness and righting the wrong he himself put into motion.
That faith in the wrong hands doesn't bring salvation, but damnation. That the fruit we bare live on long after we are gone, that our lives are indeed a tapestry made up of the threads of others. Some bright and golden. Other dark with black with blood and lies.
I read the book with tears.
Remembering being afraid of my own shadow and my little sister beating up the bullies for me. Of my reading to my sister the stories she loved over and over again, even begging me to read the ones I made up.
It is finally coming face to face with the bullies that shamed me and rejoicing they no longer have any power over me. And that it may takes years, but in the end the bully gets his in the end.
How a once beautiful country and people went through the same brutal assault Amir witness and still struggles from.
That someone has to stand up to the bully....that there is a way to be good again.
It is the story of King David who seeks to care for the offspring of his friend, Jonathan.
As Jews, we are taught it is not enough to ask and recieve forgivness. that is the starting place. G-d does forgive, but we should also work to restore if possible the harm we have done.
Amir had to face his past, his sins and in doing so, saved his life and another's.
There are life lessons in this book that I believe, no matter what your background can take away, learn and grow.
I am reminded of the power of forgivness and love, force that doesn't end at death. That G-d always gives us chance after chance to right the wrongs, atleast try in some cases, in our lives, in our world.
I strongly recommend The Kite Runner to all.
The Kite Runner.
Shalom:
This morning I finished The Kite Runner and rented the movie as well.
While there is much left out of the movie, it does capture the heart and is very faithful to the book, though I believe Baba came off a little harder in the movie.
First, it is not an easy book to read or movie to watch.
The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a young boy from Wazir Akba district of Kabud and his friend/Servant Hassan. There are times one cannot tell if the affection Amir feels for Hassan is indeed friendship or that one would feel for a beloved pet.
While set in Kabul, it story is one that is known throughout the world; one that crosses time and space.
It is a difference of culture: Amir is Pashun. Hassan is Hazara.
It is a difference of religion; Amir is Sunni and Hassan Shi'a.
It is a difference of class: Amir is wealthy. Hassan is his servant.
And yet they love each other like brothers.
It is a boy, Amir wanting the love and respect of his father. So much so he is to be silent to a brutal assault, to lie and even setup the fall of another to get it.
It is a father, finally learning to love his son.
It is Amir, finding and recieving forgivness and righting the wrong he himself put into motion.
That faith in the wrong hands doesn't bring salvation, but damnation. That the fruit we bare live on long after we are gone, that our lives are indeed a tapestry made up of the threads of others. Some bright and golden. Other dark with black with blood and lies.
I read the book with tears.
Remembering being afraid of my own shadow and my little sister beating up the bullies for me. Of my reading to my sister the stories she loved over and over again, even begging me to read the ones I made up.
It is finally coming face to face with the bullies that shamed me and rejoicing they no longer have any power over me. And that it may takes years, but in the end the bully gets his in the end.
How a once beautiful country and people went through the same brutal assault Amir witness and still struggles from.
That someone has to stand up to the bully....that there is a way to be good again.
It is the story of King David who seeks to care for the offspring of his friend, Jonathan.
As Jews, we are taught it is not enough to ask and recieve forgivness. that is the starting place. G-d does forgive, but we should also work to restore if possible the harm we have done.
Amir had to face his past, his sins and in doing so, saved his life and another's.
There are life lessons in this book that I believe, no matter what your background can take away, learn and grow.
I am reminded of the power of forgivness and love, force that doesn't end at death. That G-d always gives us chance after chance to right the wrongs, atleast try in some cases, in our lives, in our world.
I strongly recommend The Kite Runner to all.
2 comments:
thanks for the review, Laini, and analogy of the book with God. I look forward to reading it sometime soon!
betty
Betty: it is not an easy book to read. It is painful and rash. But it is worth it.
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