I struggled for days to come up with the correct word to describe the tone of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The word “sad” is too general to describe the book. Depressing doesn’t cover it, nor does down-beat convey the true feeling of the book. Towards the end of the book, one of the characters is described as solemn. It immediately hit me that “solemn” is the word I had been searching for to best describe this book.

When my wife first discovered I was reading The Kite Runner, her initial reaction was that it was not my kind of book. She’s right, it’s not. But it generated enough press, buzz, and positive word of mouth that I wanted to read it. I generally read fiction for pleasure and a little escapism. I cannot use the word “pleasurable” to describe The Kite Runner, and even though the story is fictional, the events seem so realistic that it can hardly be described as escapism. Nor can I say that reading this book was an enjoyable experience. Even knowing that fact after only maybe 50 pages into it, the book compels the reader to finish the book.

It is difficult to rate The Kite Runner, because normally I simply rate a book based on how much enjoyment I derived from reading it. I can’t really say I experienced enjoyment while reading this book, but that doesn’t make it a poorly written book by any means. The author draws the reader into this story of one man’s childhood experiences in Afghanistan and subsequent emigration to America without being political. The focus is instead on the family and social relationships of the main character and his struggles related to these relationships throughout his life.