Literacy Narrative Assignment
By: Sumaiya Tabassum
Of many books, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini has influenced my reading and
writing practices, when first introduced to it in the 10th grade. As a child, I was never
really fond of reading (especially), and also writing, even though I was creative in my
poetry skills and short stories.
The thought of reading would only interest me when my teacher would read aloud to the
class or when I would be assigned to read a book of thin size. No matter how interesting
the book, as soon as I would pick up a book to read, either the cover of the book or the
size (thickness) of the book would mislead me to not read the book and instantly, I would
put it down or away.
As time passed, I would read only books that were assigned to me by my teachers and
rarely read books on my own will. As time passed, by the 2nd semester of 10th grade, my
teacher assigned the class to read Khaled Hosseini’s book, The Kite Runner. At first, the
title of the book seemed rather childish to me and the image presented on the cover of the
book did seem somewhat serious. In a way, I did get curious to want to know what the
book was really about, and why the cover seemed to have an Islamic like setting. Because
I followed the religion of Islam, I thought I might be able to somewhat relate to the book
and have some understandings, but even this didn’t interest me enough to finish reading
the entire book.
Even though the cover interested me in a way, the thickness of the book had already
brought so much boredom to me. But due to the fact that we were going to be quizzed on
the book, it was a must for me to finish reading the entire book. At first, I thought of
ways to get away from the reading, by going online to check out summaries, but, the
book seemed too detailed for me to escape the readings. My worry was how I would
enjoy reading the book and finish reading it on time.
The first few days we read a couple of pages together as a class, and I have to admit, the
book was very touching and quite interesting at the same time. What amazed me the most
was how the book was written, the style and how simple and easy words were used to
make each sentence so deep. I felt as though I was lost in each word, and each paragraph,
the book seemed so lively and it had already brought so many images to my mind.
After our first few readings together as a class, the cover or the thickness didn’t matter to
me anymore. What really mattered, was what was inside the book. So, every spare time I
would find, whether in school or at home, I would continue on with my reading.
Somehow, I felt as though the book related to me. This is because of the Afghan culture
presented was similar to that of my South-east Asian culture and the images of the food,
the streets, I could almost smell these things while reading the book.
At a certain point of my reading, I felt as though I was the characters themselves. This
was because of the way the settings were structured and seemed so familiar to me (even
though I have never been to Afghanistan) and the details in each chapters and had me feel
as though every movement, every action was being taken by me, and not until I finished
reading each chapter, would I realize that I was in some sort of hallucination for quite
some time. Also, the fact that the book was a fiction would slip out of mind. This was not
only because the book was written in first person form but also because the situations
created in the book was very realistic that I was lost in them and pertain to real life. And
before I knew it, I had finished reading the book ahead of time.
I realized many things after my reading and one most important which I hadn’t realized
during my reading was how literary devices and techniques can really make the reading
powerful and attractive. It wasn’t until my reading was finished that I had realized these
techniques, which had led me to a second in-depth read out of my own will, which
allowed me to understand the book even more.
After reading this particular book, I realized that reading shouldn’t be taken as a waste of
time or as a burden, rather it should become a hobby. Also, my previous ideas of reading
were re-shaped, and one of such was not get anything out reading, because I realized if
you do give any book a chance, you will surely get something out of it. Also, the book
encouraged me not to judge or be mislead through a book’s size or cover, rather it
encouraged me read the back cover of the book, or a few pages inside, before making any
critical judgments on any book. And after reading The Kite Runner, I started going to my
school and public library more often to check out more books.
Not only has the book influenced my reading abilities tremendously, but also my writing.
Most of the writings I used to do were short stories, fiction, and poetic, however, the
book encouraged me to write longer stories, along with many chapters in a more creative
style. This style was similar to that of the book, I learned to write more stories by adding
transitions to my chapters smoothly, learned to make my stories realistic, and just like the
book I also, obtained the skill to make my writings pertain to real life situations.
Few weeks after I had finished reading the book, I had started a new piece of writing, on
my own Similar to that of The Kite Runner. Similar as in the techniques and style of
writing, but the only difference was, my writing this time, for the first time, was Nonfiction. The book had given me encouragement to write more and more, and make a
collection of stories, but my biggest project was, the non-fiction work which I took very
careful time when writing it, and is still on-going, to make it a “masterpiece”.
Just as The Kite Runner had made it to the “Best-Seller” list, it gave me hopes and
dreams that someday I could write a book as powerful as The Kite Runner, and gave me
the hope that maybe one day my work too will eventually make it to the “Best Seller”
List. I wanted to write one of those stories that would never leave a person’s mind once
reading it, just as The Kite Runner had done to me. The first steps in giving me these
hopes and dreams were when I first put hands on The Kite Runner and the second was
my on-going, soon to become a “masterpiece”.