Sunday, May 8, 2011

The Kite Runner : Book Review :)

The book that i chose to study this year in English was The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini . Even though it isn't on the leaving cert book list next year the current fifth years are reading it and i had heard lots of good reviews about it from them that made it sound like a very interesting novel . Another girl in my class had also decided to read The Kite Runner which was helpful as we could discuss our thoughts and opinions on the novel with each other .

The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini is mainly set in Afghanistan and America however parts of it are set in Pakistan . It is a fictional novel however it is based on true facts . The story is told from the point of view of Amir who narrates the story from his childhood to the present . At the beginning of the novel we see Amir receiving a phone call from his fathers old friend who had been like a father to him Rahim Khan asking him to go to visit him in Pakistan as he is very ill , at the end of the phone call Rahim Khan says to Amir 'there is a way to be good again' which seems to mean something to Amir . The book also has flashbacks in it sometimes jumping from the present day to the past . Amir grew up in the Wazir Akbar Khan district in Kabul the capitol of Afghanistan . His mother died giving birth to him and he was raised by his wealthy father . He has a very close friendship with his fathers servants son Hassan a Hazzare boy . The two are like brothers and do everything together . They take part in a Kite Running competition that is held in Kabul every year . Amir is trying to impress his father who had won the competition when he was a boy . Amir always felt distant from his father and felt that his father seemed disappointed in him as a son and that he seemed to prefer Hassan . Therefore Amir feels that this is his chance to get his fathers attention . Amir and Hassan win the competition and Hassan goes to 'Run' the winning kite for Amir . When Hassan doesn't return Amir goes to look for him . He witnesses something terrible and doesn't do anything to stop it . His guilt eats away at him all his life but Rahim Khan finally gives him the chance to ' be good again ' .

The Main themes in The Kite Runner are regret , disloyalty , relationships .
When Amir witnesses Hassan being raped by Assef the local bully he stands by and lets it happen . He then pretends that he never saw anything . He feels so guilty that he tries to get Hassan and his father fired so that he is not confronted with this guilt everyday . Years later when he is a grown man he has deep regret for not intervening or telling his father about what happened to Hassan . He will always regret this for the rest of his life but Rahim Khan gives him a chance to ease his regret when he asks him to rescue Hassan's son Sohrab from an orphanage in Afghanistan where the Taliban are now in control . We see the theme of disloyalty come in here also , Amir was disloyal to Hassan destroying there friendship . However there was also a disloyalty between Amir and his Baba when Rahim Khan informs him that Hassan is really Amir's half-brother and that his Baba had never told him . Amir is very hurt by this but decides to go and rescue Sohrab anyway .

Another theme in The Kite Runner is Relationships . There are many relationships in the book however i have decided to focus on the main ones . The first relationship i want to discuss is the relationship between Amir and Hassan . Ali , Hassans father was Amir's fathers servant and the two became great friends just like there sons after them . Hassan and Amir grew up together and did everything together . There bond is described as 'brother-like' in the book which is of great significance seeing as we later find out that the are actually half-brothers . Even though Hassan and Amir get on so well there friendship is often over-shadowed by jealousy that Amir feels as his father always seemed to like Hassan better then his own son . There relationship is then further overshadowed by Hassan being raped and then even more when Amir tries to get Ali and Hassan fired so that he doesnt have to confront his guilt . Even though Amir never gets to apologise to Hassan before he is killed by the Taliban , Rahim Khan gives him a letter that Hassan had written to Amir just before he was killed which suggests that Hassan holds no grudge against him and wishes only to see Amir again so that they can be reunited and re-kindle there friendship .

The next relationship i want to look at is the relationship between Amir and his Baba. Since he was a young boy Amir had always felt that his Baba was disappointed in him as a son as he was not like him . However when Russia invades Afghanistan Amir and his Baba leave the country and move to America . Being in a forgein country together brings them closer and they have a great relationship until Baba dies of cancer . After Baba's death when Amir learns that Hassan is his brother and that Baba had lied to him his whole life causes him to question there relationship . However it explains a lot about the way his father treated him as a child and Rahim Khan helps him to see things more clearly and forgive his father .

The final relationship that I wish to discuss is the relationship between Rahim Khan and Amir .
Rahim Khan was Baba's best friend and was Amir's father like figure as his own father didn't have a good relationship with his son . For example when Amir starts writing stories his father is very dismissive of this and refuses to read them , however Rahim Khan show great genuine interest in Amir and gives him a special notebook for his birthday which leads to Amir dedicating his first book to him . Rahim Khan knows about Amir witnessing Hassans rape and understands his guilt , he helps him to be good again and forgive himself and his Baba .

I would have liked to live Kabul at the beginning of the book before Russia invaded Afghanistan and before the taliban took control of the country . The way the Wazir Akbar Khan is described at the start of the book makes it sound like a beautiful place to live . However I would not like to live there at the present time as the taliban are in power there now and from reading the book I see that they are bad people and seem to have destroyed all the goodness of the country . When Amir returns to Afghanistan he is shocked at how diffrent it is to his childhood. The beautiful , cultural , rich country from his chilhood has become a place of poverty , violence and war . Therefore I would not like to live in Afghanistan at the present day .

I really enjoyed this novel and the way it was written . The descriptive passages gave me a great visual image of all the diffrent country's and places in the novel so that i almost felt as if i was there . It was also a very emotional novel there were a lot of very sad parts when i found myself welling up and had to stop and take a deep breath before continuing reading it which i think is really good as it is based on true fact and gives an insight into the terror that the people in Afghanistan are suffering and makes you want to do somwthing about it . Even though there are a lot of terrible things that happen in the novel and it doesnt end completly happy , I was left with a sense of hope at after reading it .

I would reccomend this book to anyone but not to children as think they might find it a bit complex and upsetting . The book has amazing descriptive passages and brilliant charactures that really find there way into your heart . It is a bit complicated and hard to grasp at first but once you get into it you won't want to put it down at all , I felt myself dying to turn each page and find out what happens next . It is also good in that it gives an insight into whats happening in Afghanistan and the countrys history . Before reading this book I didnt really understand the conflict in Afghanistan and who the taliban where however after reading this book i think i have a good understanding of this therefore I would reccommend that people should read and be made aware of the situation in Afghanistan .

My favourite part of the book would have to be sometime at the beginning during Hassan and Amir's childhood before Hassan was raped simply beacause it was such a happy time and showed such innocence before there lives got complicated and the terror began . My favourite quote would have to be one i have mentioned a few time in this review , it is when Rahim Khan says ' there is a way to be good againn' to Amir . I like it as it gives such great hope to readers and shows that even in the worst most dark circumstances you can also get back up and turn things around .

The Features of style that enjoyed were the description , emotion and the historical ones .
As i have mentioned before , I found Khalid Hosseini to be a very good descriptive writer that really helped to transport you to anywhere he described wether it was the back of a van or the great city of Kabul . I also thought that the range emotions in the novel were incredible it really gets to you in a deep place as it is so sad , however the contrast is great as there are a lot of hopeful and heart-warming parts such as Amir finding his true love and flying a kite with Sohrab ( Hassan's son ) . There are also very thrilling parts such as when Amir is fighting with Assef and when Amir and Baba are escaping from Afghanistan to Pakistan . I also thought that the historical features in this novel were great as it gave you a great insight to Afghanistan and the muslim people's history in an informative and interesting way without being boring .

I really enjoyed The Kite Runner and I'm glad that i chose to read it . I think that it was a great experience and i would reccomend it to my classmates .

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Jabba Jabba Jembe :P

Last thursday we had a ty percussion workshop with a man called dave . he brought in loads and loads of djembe's and big bass drums and little purcussion instruments . It was great fun and he thought us a load of diffrent rhythms like woodpecker and the bungalo . He also thought us a drum solo on the djembe and we perfomed a piece with an african chant in it . we also did some freestyle drumming at the end which was my favourite part . I think everyone realii enjoyed the workshop and would definatly do it againn :D

Music Night :)

Last Wednesday we had the schools annual music night :) Ty's performed a song called Mama Said by dionne bromfield . I played the guitar with leah and roisin power :) i think it went realii well but i wouldnt know because i had my back to the people . after we performed the song all tys went into the demo room and watched school of rock which was great fun . The whole night was a great success and i think everyone reallii enjoyed performing together :D

Friday, March 25, 2011

mini company competiton :)

we went to the red cow for a mini company competition . my mini company is can-do and unfortunatly saibhdh our team mananger couldnt make it . but steph , alison and davina joined our team so we were alright. we got name tags labelled A , B and C and we had to swap them around and do diffrent actitvities . some people stay at the stand for the judeges , some people go around and look at some of the other mini companies and some people went into a room to meet others schools and discuss our compainies. we all had a really great day , sadly our company didnt win anything but other companies from or school did :D

Work Exp. :)

we did our 2nd work exp from the 7th to the 11th of march . i went to K n B music for thw week . i really really enjoyed working at K n B as I am very interested in music and would like to do something involving music when i leave school . the staff were all realy nice and friendly and i got along realii well with all of them :) i got to work at the register and with customers , i also tuned and re-strung instruments and sorted out stock . like i said before i really enjoyed working there and would highley reccomend it , however if your not interested in music it wouldnt be a good idea because you have to have a good bit of knowledge to work there . i was sad when it was over because i learned so much and got so comfortable working there , i could definaltly see myself working there in the future :)

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Oisín McGann :P

On wednesday an author called óisin McGann came in to do a workshop with us :)he talked to us about his books and read extracts from one or two of them and from what he read they sounded very interesting so i would be interested to read one of his books in the future . He also told us some very interesting and useful things about writers such as lanuguage and how they come up with stories :) he then came up with a very funny story on the spot about a vampire shoe :L I realii enjoyed the workshop and i found what oisin had to say very interesting :)here is a link to oisins website ;) http://www.oisinmcgann.com/books/novels.html

Croke Park :)

On monday all of Ty went to Croke Park . I had never been to Croke Park before so i didnt realii know what to expect . We left the school at 12 . As we approched Croke Park i was suprised to see how big it was . we got off the bus and went into the stadium , first we went into a little cinema room where we watched a short film about what happens behinde the scenes on a day of an all-ireland final in Croke Park . I found this very interesting as i never realised how much work went in to organising the day and making sure everything runs smoothly , i also never realised how many people were involved in all this . Next we went on a tour of the stadium we strted by going around the tunnels and we learned a lot of interesting facts about Croke Park , then we got to see the players lounge room where they go after a match and the dresing rooms. Then we got to go up to where the presidnet sits during a match and then we went up to the highest stand to see the view which was realii amazing :) when the tour was over we were aloud to look around the museum and do some activities before we went . I realii enjoyed the whole experience and hopefully ill go to a match in Croke Park one day :)