What is your analysis and evaluation of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini?Is the writing effective, powerful, difficult, or beautiful?

I had heard great things about Khaled Hosseini's novel,
The Kite Runner, following its publication in 2003. My stepdaughter
read it in her sophomore year of high school, and she raved about it, too. So I finally
got around to reading it, and I think it is one of the most pertinent novels to be
released during the first decade of the 21st century. Perhaps the most revealing review
of the novel I have heard came from a friend, who admitted that she gained a greater
understanding about life and politics of the area by reading
TKR than she had ever learned through other books and
media.

Considering America's ongoing military presence in
Afghanistan, the novel is still as pertinent today as it was when it was first released.
In addition to being one of the first novels to address the terrorist attacks on New
York City and Washington, it is the first known novel to be written in English by an
Afghan native. Hosseini's understanding of the culture and politics of Afghanistan is
evident, having grown up as the son of an Afghan diplomat. He and his family later moved
to San Jose, California, the primary setting for the second half of the
novel.

It is a particularly powerful first novel, and its
many serious moments--such as the rape of Hassan and the various brutalities at the
hands of the Taliban--set it apart from what could otherwise be adolescent fiction. The
author's loving descriptions of the Aghan countryside reveal a beauty of the country
that is not evident on news reports of the ongoing political struggles there. Hosseini's
themes of atonement, brotherhood and loss of innocence are weaved effortlessly through
the novel. The characters are particularly vivid, especially that of the
larger-than-life father, Baba, who is at first disappointed in his son before finally
recognizing his true nature after their relocation to
California.

Naturally, after reading
TKR, I moved on to Hosseini's second novel, A Thousand
Splendid Suns, another unforgettable tale about the lives of two women forced
to face the many gender inequities often found in the Muslim world ruled primarily by
men.