Running Out of Time

I'm going to cover a lot in this post...perhaps more than I am even anticipating but I feel as if I have so much to say about this novel, this emotional roller coaster of a novel. I will break the chapters into groups and cover nearly the entirety of the book: comments are most welcome.

Chapters 10-14
While I realize this is a fictional story, I cannot help but realize in the same respect that this is a close representation of the Afghan culture, what was happening during this time of invasion, and the desperate measures that had to be taken in order to survive...or even have a chance of surviving. There's a line on page 112 when Amir is standing on the side of the road when they're leaving Kabul and he realizes in one moment that this is when life had to change for him. Yes, he had been in other life changing situations before but there is no other momet in his life other than this one in which he is forced into the realization that home is no longer an option of safety. While Hosseini writes this very simply, without much emphasis this really struck me. During these same couple of pages we see another realm of rape- with the Russian and the woman on Karim's truck. I've said it many times before and I'll say it again: I can't believe how common this dispicable act is, not only in this novel, but seemingly everywhere Amir turns.

Chapter 11 brings us to America and the ongoing struggle to survive. This is the first time Baba and Amir are shown without their house, money and security of celebrity like they had in Kabul. They seem vulnerable yet so strong in the sense when Baba refuses welfare. At Amir's graduation we finally see Baba's pride in Amir, yet in Baba we see his sudden deterioration through Amir's eyes- he is no longer the invincible man he once was, no longer the giant superhero conquering all with one fist. In this moment of maturity and accomplishment, Amir grows a little more into the person we kind of wanted him to be all along...a human. Page 136 offers this extraordinary depth into why Amir would love America, for all its worth: to get rid of his ghosts, memories and sin...in other words, where he would try for the life of him, to move on from Hassan and the person he decided to be.

Moving quicker..the fact that Amir allows himself to love Soraya shows his maturity as well, his stepping stone of "coming of age" if you will. For all the crappy things he has done in his life, America and Soraya and school are his new chances to make better decisions, unlike those made in Afghanistan, unlike those with the person who loved him the most, in which he would never find a love like that again. The infertitlity may be karma- because I believe Karma is selective- karma for all the things he did, the people he betrayed and the things his eyes have seen. Perhaps not having child symbolizes that Amir has no more love to give to anyone other than the memories and Soraya. Perhaps he has a limited amount of love and emotion due to the stunted conscience he had as a boy.

A way to be good again. That's what Rahim Khan said before Amir and he hung up the phone. We find out later that there is in fact, a way to be good again. There is in fact a way to forgive himself, his past and his memory. There is in fact a way to be okay, to start over with lessons learned, to get what he deserves and move on. I realized at this point that Amir had been trying with all his might to block out Kabul since coming to California, which is why he has such a difficult time facing it and sleeping on it while on the plane back to see Rahim Khan. I debated whether he went out of obligation or because deep down Amir truly wanted to believe that there was a way to be good again. In the end, i decided it was half and half: Partially because of obligation to Baba and hsi past, partially because he needed to find something to give him peace.