Living A Lie ?

The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
Published 2003
Published by Putnam Publishing Group

Summary:

            The coming of age novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini is a story that revolves around two Afghan boys named Amir Hosseini and his servant’s son, Hassan. The story takes place in Afghanistan during the Russian Revolution. Hassan is a loyal and humble boy who mainly seeks to protect Amir and remain at his side as a good friend. Amir is a very talented storyteller, who struggles to seek the attention of his father, Baba. The two boys face many troubles in their early years living in Afghanistan such as separation of class, bullying, traumatic violence and above all the cloud of guilt that continuously hovers over their heads. Amir arrives at a conflict where he must choose between his friendship with Hassan or finally acquiring the affection from his father that he’s been longing for. It is this decision that haunts him not only through his childhood but also growing into an adult.

Quotation:

            “There is only one sin, and that is theft…when you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth”

Reaction:

            This is what was said to Amir while he was still young by his father Baba. As an adult, he reflects on the quote from his father in a more negative nature after being told that Hassan was Amir’s half-brother this whole time. This is when Amir realizes that Baba had been lying to him, his whole life. In this scene, I found that it was ironic how Baba, the one was always lecturing Amir about being a honorable man and about what was right and wrong , never actually applied any of his advice to himself. I think that Baba was a hypocrite and a coward by not telling Amir about Hassan being his brother. In this book, I often see scenarios where characters often hide behind a lie because of the fear of being hurt by the truth.

A Struggle to Find One's Self ; Her Last Death

Her Last Death
Susanna Sonnenberg
Published 2008
Published by Scribner

Summary :

       The novel Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg is a jaw-dropping auto-biography. The story is told in dual-narrative voice. The story primarily takes place in London. As the story opens up, Sonnenberg is introduced as a grown women living with her husband along with her two kids. She then gets a phone call from her aunt, Irene, informing her that her mother, Daphne had just been in a car accident. Sonnenberg struggles with a self conflict as she is trying to decide whether or not she should fly to Barbados to see how her mother is doing. From that point, Sonnenberg tells her story describing her relationship with her mother, starting with her childhood. She takes the audience through the journey of her life, which then changes the perspective of how life itself is viewed.

Quotation:


       "He smiled. "All right, listen to me carefully," he said. "The next time this happens, you are to say in an extremely loud voice, "Take your hands off me!" He was satisfied."

Reaction:

       This is what came out of Susanna's stepfather's mouth after she told him that she had been molested by the guy who was sitting two seats away from him. How her stepdad reacted shocked me in a negative way because I would expect a dad to be unbelievably angry and incredibly protective over his daughter after hearing news like that. Instead, he dad just smiled and gave her "advice". I feel as though her stepdad didnt really step up and act like a responsible father to Susanna. I feel that this scene was very symbolic for the book itself. In the story, there was a reoccurring topic of independence and responsibility taken into the wrong hands.