On the Shelf

In this week’s edition of On the Shelf comes the final post on Kite Runner. Amir, now happily married to his wife Soraya for over 15 years, receives a message from his old family friend Rahim Khan. Amir drops everything he is doing in his life in America and hastily boards the next plane to Afghanistan. When Amir finds Rahim he quickly discovers that the Afghanistan he knew when he was a kid was destroyed after the Soviet invasion years earlier. After the Soviets were driven out, the fundamentalist Taliban group seized control of the country and with it the freedom of its people. The Taliban were responsible for the execution of many of the ethnic minorities in the country, including Hassan. It turns out that Hassan had a son during the Taliban occupation of Afghanistan and after he and his wife were executed, the orphaned boy was placed in an orphanage. Hassan’s child, Sohrab, was then removed from the orphanage by a Taliban official who just so happened to be Assef, the rapist from earlier in the book. Amir goes to rescue Sohrab from Assef and the two fist fight one on one, Assef’s request to the Taliban guards. After Amir had his face physically reconstructed by Assef’s fists, Sohrab manages to blind Assef with his father’s sling shot. How fitting. The two escape the Taliban building and escape to Pakistan in their getaway car. Once Amir has his face fixed by plastic surgeons in relative safety, he begins the adoption process to adopt Sohrab and to bring him back to America. The U.S. international adoptions agency is less than accommodating to our beaten hero and Amir is forced to tell Sohrab that he will have to stay in another dirty, foodless orphanage “only until we can sort this out.” Later that night, Soraya saves the day by informing Amir that she found an international adoption agency that will assist them in getting Sohrab home now and adopted later. Amir tries to inform Sohrab of the turn of events only to find Sohrab lying in the hotel bathtub with his wrists cut in an attempt to commit suicide. Luckily, Sohrab survives the suicide attempt after Amir rushes him to the hospital and Sohrab recovers physically, but never in spirit. Amir takes him home to America where they live safely, but with an impenetrable barrier of silence holding the family apart. The novel does end on a happier note when Amir takes Sohrab to the park to fly a kite together and even fight another kite. His victory in this kite fight brings all of Kabul back to Amir and shows Amir and Sohrab how their love for Hassan has brought them together.

On the Shelf

This week I was unable to do as much reading as I would have liked too. I have been fairly busy working after school and catching up on school assignments. I was originally planning on finishing Kite Runner by this time but I was unable to achieve this goal. So far, the story has progressed through time fairly quickly, outlining the events between the infamous rape scene and the move to America after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Placing light details of life in America upon the passage of time, it would appear as if the move away from Afghanistan allowed Amir to forget his cowardice and betrayal of his friend Hassan, creating a whole new life where his conscious can finally rest easily. Eventually, Amir marries another fugitive from Afghanistan in America. The day of his proposal to her, she reveals to him that she has had ran away with a previous suitor, marring her purity as an Afghan woman. Soraya’s betrayal of her father and the family name discreetly parallels Amir’s betrayal of his ‘brother’ years before. Though Amir acknowledges he should confess his inner incubus, he decides to withhold the information. Time passes, and Amir’s father passes away from lung cancer and his old family friend from Kabul, Afghanistan requests Amir visit him as he too is dying; Amir boards a plane and returns to his home, reviving his suppressed childhood demons.

On The Shelf

The next book on the shelf is a very enriching novel about the life of a boy in Afghanistan named Kite Runner. The interesting title actually stems from an Afghani tradition, kite fighting. During the winter months, the town boys would work in pairs to either buy or craft a kite to be flown in a tournament. The tournament has a unique twist; each of the kites has a string that is coated in ground glass. The kite flyer attempts to maneuver the kite and its line to cut the string of another kite flying in the tournament. The winner is considered the last kite flying. It is also a tradition that the boys chase after the final kite to fall from the sky, these boys were known as kite runners. It was not uncommon for fights to breakout over the fallen kite because it was considered a magnificent honor to recover the final kite and this novel wraps around the tragedy that befell one child while recovering the kite. The main character witnesses the horror that befalls his friend within the darkened alley way, and the novel illustrates the psychological effect the rape had on both the victim and the witness as the two slowly drift apart. The novel is a fantastic read, tracing the progression of the schism between the family due to this tragedy and as a result of external cultural prejudice.

Nominated Posts

My top post picks (no particular order)

"Ocean's music has been characterized by music writers as idiosyncratic in style. Ocean generally plays the electronic keyboard, and is backed by a subdued rhythm section in the production. His compositions are often mid-tempo and feature unconventional melodies, occasionally having experimental song structure. Whenever I'm in the mood to pause and slow this life down a bit, or if I want to ponder about my "sophisticated" high school romances, I choose Frank."
http://chranderson.blogspot.com/

"...The basis of the plot is Tiger Lily’s decision between marrying a terrible man in her own tribe and running away to an uncertain future with Peter (because they fell in love). I found myself conflicted as well; it is always difficult to choose between going with your heart or with your head. Tiger Lily was always the mischievous native in Peter Pan the movie, but this novel shows another side of this dynamic character in adventures involving bravery, family, and of course, love."
http://drysuitwetwater.blogspot.com/

On the Shelf

This week I bring to you the final update for the novel, “The Hobbit”. I just finished the great novel last night while half-way paying attention to one of those wonderful made-for-T.V. sci-fi movies. The sci-fi movie made an excellent foil for The Hobbit; The Hobbit is remarkably well written and moves beyond the predictable realm of “the not even scary guy who abruptly enters frame with a loud noise” shocker moments. While on the note of sharp contrast, the ending of the novel brings up a major contrast between Bilbo and his picture perfect foil, Thorin. When the adventuring party finally makes it to the Lonely Mountain, Thorin takes great pride in claiming the treasure as his own to dispense as he pleases, modeling that five year old child on the playground who won’t share HIS jungle-gym with the rest of the kids. While sitting atop his gratuitous pile of gold, silver, gems, and priceless jewelry, Thorin manages to start an unwinnable war with the men of the lake who helped him earn his golden throne (ex. Killing the dragon that once guarded it). Bilbo, taking advantage of his natural leadership and benevolence, sneaks out to the enemy camp and makes a selfless offer to prevent the war from commencing. Bilbo offers to give his claim to the treasure to the men of the lake in order to appease the war-bound men and elves. Our little King Midas disowns Bilbo for his “treachery” and war is on the verge of fruition. After a great chain of plot twisting of events, Thorin formally apologizes to Bilbo and attempts to redeem himself from his greed by renouncing his action. The book ends with Bilbo’s return journey, where he is exceedingly generous in rewarding the friendly faces who helped him complete his quest. This conclusion shows that even though Bilbo developed into a natural leader, a crafty escape artist, and a peacemaker, Bilbo still maintained his devotion to a life of simplicity.

On the Shelf

In this installment of On the Shelf I bring another up date on the epic story The Hobbit. A great number of events transpired this week within The Hobbit, all bringing about various not so subtle changes in our beloved protagonist Bilbo Baggins. The fearless adventuring party faces a plethora of legendary enemies including: goblins riding wolves, spell casting wood-elves, maniacal kings, and the ineffably powerful dragon, Smaug, who is sure to make anyone second guess how important this quest for glory really is. Along the quest we start to uncover the various perspective changes within the party, most notably about the party's view of Bilbo. Bilbo's use of the magic ring to solve just about any giant spider filled, prison bound, fire breathing , barrel-surfing problem that the dwarves manage to throw themselves into causes a dramatic shift in the role Bilbo plays. Bilbo changes from the mild, napping-on-the-front-porch-on-a-hot-summer-day hobbit to a crafty escape artist capable of saving his companions from anything. The quote below represents Bilbos dramatic change in character.

"It was at this point that Bilbo stopped. Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterwards were as nothing compared to it. he fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait."

 Additionally, Bilbo manages to hold onto his country boy roots, saving him from getting carried away with his quest and forgetting all about the qualities of his home that he loves so dearly.

What I'm Loving

"There is no way for us to be human without other people." The opening quote of Chris Abani's amazing monologue "On Humanity", plants a lingering thought for his whole story. He recounts his amazing experiences with his missionary mother in Nigeria where he learns the power of compassion and bravery. His touching story transitions into a dramatic personal account of passing through a coming of age trial where he learned the importance of childhood innocence; through the actions of a child soldier. Chris then transitions between a comical story and another personal story, Chris brings us to his story on death row in Nigeria where he met a 14 year old boy who changed his life forever. He then finishes his story with a poem called "Libation" which pulls together his stories into one powerful message.