91 pages • 3 hours read
Khaled HosseiniA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Amir is the narrative's central protagonist and narrator, and his deep need for redemption drives the plot of the story. As a boy, he leads a life of privilege in a wealthy neighborhood of Kabul, Afghanistan. Living with his father, Baba, and servants Ali and Hassan, Amir develops an insipid sense of superiority. Because Amir is unaware that Hassan is his half-brother, he becomes envious whenever Baba shows Hassan affection, eventually leading Amir to sacrifice Hassan to a vicious rape and then reject him. When Amir receives a phone call years later from his father’s friend Rahim Khan, he has been living in America trying to forget the immense guilt of his past. When Rahim Khan tells him that Hassan has been murdered and his son orphaned, the narrative’s dramatic action switches to follow Amir’s growth as a character. As he wades into a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in search of his nephew, Amir also starts on a road toward redemption and humility.
By Khaled Hosseini