What is The Kite Runner?
{{italictitle}} {{Infobox book | name = The Kite Runner | image = |caption = French cover, 2016 | title_orig = | translator = | author = [[Khaled Hosseini]] | cover_artist = Honi Werner | country = United States | language = English | series = | genre = {{plainlist | * [[Historical fiction]] * [[Drama]] }} | publisher = [[Riverhead Books]] | release_date = May 29, 2003 | pages = 372 | isbn = 1-57322-245-3 | dewey = 813/.6 21 | congress = PS3608.O832 K58 2003 | oclc = 51615359 | preceded_by = | followed_by = }} '''''The Kite Runner''''' is a 2003 [[book]] written by Afghan-American [[Khaled Hosseini]].<ref>{{cite journal | title=The Kite Runner | journal=World Literature Today | date=September–December 2004 | volume= 78 | issue=3/4 |pages=148 | doi=10.2307/40158636 | last1=Noor | first1=R. | last2=Hosseini | first2=Khaled| jstor=40158636 }}</ref> In ''The Kite Runner'', Amir and Hassan grow up together in [[Afghanistan]] like brothers, although they could not be more different. Amir is the son of a rich [[business]]man, a [[Sunni]] [[Muslim]], a [[Pashtun]]. He is [[education|educated]] and loves to read and write. Hassan's father Ali is a servant to Amir's father. Hassan is a [[Sh'ia]] Muslim and a [[Hazara]]. He can not read and has a [[harelip]]. Neither boy has a mother, although Baba's friend, Rahim Kahn, has a close friendship with Amir. They spend their boyhoods roaming the streets of [[Kabul]] together. Amir is a selfish friend to Hassan, who is devoted and loyal to Amir. One day, he hides in fear as Hassan is beaten and [[rape]]d by three [[bully|bullies]], led by a boy called Assef, when Hassan refuses to give them a kite that he found for Amir. After this, he cannot bear to talk to Hassan and pretends to his father that Hassan stole his watch so that Hassan will be sent away. Although his father forgives Hassan, Ali and Hassan decide to leave. The [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] invasion of Afghanistan sends Amir and his father