Hosseini's "The Kite Runner" left me surprised in multiple ways. "Unexpected," as The Denver Post calls it, describes it perfectly for me. I assumed it to be something similar to "From Beirut to Jerusalem", but, boy, I was wrong. This book is fully driven by plot, though a great deal of Afghan history and culture is told. The story depends on chance, which is unbelievable in parts, as is some of the dialogue. I'm not going to judge the way Hosseini writes, though, (some don't approve) because I liked the story. Glimpses are laced within the pages—delicate, passing looks at a foreign world; a world into which the United States was suddenly thrust, and therefore a world that holds sudden interest. But this place isn't new at all; it's one of the oldest parts of the human Earth, the "crossroads of Asia". These factors make the area and the story compelling. All of this is foundation for the characters, however, which I let come to life in my mind. I must admit it, I let myself succumb to the drama. I teared up more than once, but don't tell anybody.

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