The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

A story about betrayal and redemption, that could have been written by any of the bollywood scriptwriters. Full of clichés and coincidences and every trick in the book designed to appeal to your emotions, but breathtakingly written. Especially in the first half of the book where you can feel and identify with the protoganist and see the world through his eyes. However the latter half of the book seems rushed in comparison, as if the author wanted to reach the last scene which he had setup in the first part. But a touching scene nevertheless. This is a story about an afghan boy Amir and his relation with his father and  Hassan, a sort of servant who thinks the world of Amir. But Amir betrays hassan to win the love of his father, and the rest of the book is about how he earns redemption. Intermingled with some Afghan history , but really not using it for anything other than a faint backdrop, the author does capture the story very well. And the book has its coincidences and clichés but it is only coincidence for people who are not afghanis.