Red

This post is a follow up to this one. Seeing red branches in nature has inspired me to write this post. To understand the significance of red, please read this post, before you read the following book review.

      The onset of spring has kept me delightfully busy outdoors. The Forsythias are ready with their sunny side up. The silent construction of Hydrangea has begun. The Spyreas are showing off tender red leaves. Speaking of red, brings me back to some unfinished business and that is to tell you about one more book by Khaled Hosseini. So here is the review, from my 40 plus perspective.

      ‘The Kite Runner’ is a wonderful story, beautifully written with unimaginable enigma. Its narration has the innocence of Wonder Years. The secret in the story has the enigma of  The God of Small Things and the plot has definite shades of East Of Eden. Like A Thousand Splendid Suns, this book too has a strong eastern flavor and is deftly crafted with western writing skill. The story travels through exotic places in the east, namely Kabul, Peshawar, Islamabad and then finishes in the west, namely California.

      As for the gist of the story, a few people have summarized it well here. But as an architect, the gist of the story is a triangle and a circle. Let me explain. The Kite Runner is about how the secret love triangle created by one generation helps in the completion of the next generation’s circle of life. In doing so, it reveals how an apparent saint was actually a sinner and a self-proclaimed sinner becomes a saint. With a gist like that, this book seems hard to resist Well if you have read the book already, you will totally agree with me!

      As for red, the main characters are all red i.e. all male. With this setting the book appears like a painting in monochrome of red i.e. pink, red and maroon. Let me explain. Swami Ramkrishna Paramhansa has classified human personality traits into three categories, namely raajas, tamas and satvik. Here are their traits:

• Raajas – wealthy, generous and philanthropic
• Tamas – violent, arrogant, aggressive, destructive
• Saatvik – simple and peace loving.

      In artistic terms satvik is pink, raajas is red and tamas is maroon. You will find all of these colors in the book. Baba, the protagonist’s father is raajas, Hassan and Ali are saatvik, Assaf and the town bullies are tamas. As for Amir, the protagonist, he is raajas by birth, saatvik by nature and tamas by circumstances. The story has elements of innocence and the loss of it, unbearable violence, secrets, terror and tenderness. There is also a lot of poverty and helplessness caused due to war but what outshines it all is the eastern beauty found in the character of its people. Its present in the bond between father and son, the loyalty of servant towards the master, the ability of Baba to adjust in America and the assimilation of Amir into the mainstream of America. All in all, wonderfully red.

Ratna

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FYI: Last year on this blog, you read, From Mother India to Indra Nooyi