作业。英语大大退步。以后我要常练习了！
A book report on <the kite runner>
The thought often occurs to me that what turns a book into a bestseller, or perhaps, what kind of things are readers looking for? And how can a man, without much technique or experience, possibly compose a bestseller? Sadly, the key is not about how much of a literature the book is, but rather how many of the things which excite you to read the book have.
Bestsellers tend to be overrated by the majority. Therefore their tremendousness in number could only suggest so little in taste as honoring the book with the comment “Extraordinary, moving and unexpected.”
Extraordinary. I can’t recall just about how many times the word appears on a paperback cover. Wherever there comes a book, the word follows inevitably. When everyone strives for a distinct identity from everyone else, it’s hard to define what extraordinary really is. Suppose it be the boldness to touch upon an issue long dropped. In this case, it was the normal lives of Afghans before people demonized them all into terrorists. It was through a child’s perception that the world sees a lost paradise, learns about its culture. Never assume something to be a mere noun or adjective, learn about it before judging it. That’s some introspection the kite runner gave me. Then again, readers favor a view to a foreign world which they know very little about. The kite runner did an awfully nice job satisfying that need by including every detail in the Afghans’ lives. Though it is said “Time is a greedy thing. It steals all the details for itself.” I’m glad those weren’t lost to history, which wouldn’t otherwise make us so complete.
Moving. I’d say the first third of the book deserved that comment, while the rest is just disappointing. A friend of mine told me that he dropped tears that the end of the book, and that was implausible since I dropped mine somewhere 300 pages before. Again, the elements so profoundly moving are the same of which the readers favor. Let’s take a close look:
1. Hassan is a servant and a friend to Amir. He is so goddamned loyal that could chew dirt if Amir asked him to. Also so goddamned naïve that never doubt if Amir was utterly proud of him. Now what’s so attractive about this is that we live in a world free of slavery, and racism (Hopefully. I may be just as naïve as Hassan on this issue). And it may seem overall a very stirring act to read about servants and how they are treated. It sounds a little brutish but true too. We’re all animals on the inside.
2. This Amir guy is a total coward, which reminds most of us of ourselves. I myself never admit my fear for death, but feel a desperate sensation every time being hunt down in a nightmare. I guess to describe oneself as a coward takes more guts than to be brave. I appreciate the weakness in Amir, as we all have weaknesses. Readers favor characters who act and think like them.
3. Hassan got raped. This is the first time I’ve heard the phrase “pederasty”。 I really don’t need to explain why readers favor this but er…Like I said above, we like new and fashionable stuff.
And my last tears dropped with Hassan moving away and Amir heading to America. The rest of the “kiss America’s ass” part just doesn’t fit to my best interest.
Unexpected. What was truly unexpected was that how the author could possibly turn a novel with such a strong start upside down by simply moving the characters to “The land of opportunities” Though I don’t like how the book bootlicked America, I suppose a majority of others did. America needed this; it needed some warm cultural feedbacks to feel better about what it did to Afghans. “First we bomb them, and then we read about them.” The second and third part was anything but unexpected. I grew tired of its dramatic plot half way through. Everything seemed far too neat and it has a Hollywood movie like ending; the hero saves the day and lived happily ever after. I wished the book to be a memoir rather than a novel, which would then be much more convincing.
<The kite runner> can definitely be referred as “The best seller” and nothing more than that. I would recommend the first third of the book (up to P120, that is.) and leave the rest unread. Don’t try to finish it, or you won’t experience any of the three: Extraordinary, moving and unexpected.
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