"The Kite Runner"...tells a story of fierce cruelty and fierce yet redeeming love. Both transform the life of Amir, Khaled Hosseini`s privileged young narrator, who comes of age during the last peaceful days of the monarchy, just before his country`s revolution and its invasion by Russian forces. But political events, even as dramatic as the ones that are presented in "The Kite Runner", are only a part of this story. Khaled Hosseini gives us a vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence - forces that continue to threaten them even today.