The Kite Runner

This book is so good so far! It's interesting to read a book that takes place in a different setting from the places in other books that I've read. The Kite Runner takes place in Afghanistan in the early '80s and progresses as the main character, Amir, grows up. Amir has a tough life: his father is disappointed in him constantly for not being like him, his mother died during child birth, and his only friend is his servant, Hassan. Only, Amir refuses to call him his "friend" even though he's person who he spends time playing with and sees the "face of Afghanistan [as] a thin-boned frame, a shaved head, and low-set ears, a boy with a Chinese doll face perpetually lit by a harelipped smile" (Hosseini 25). He doesn't call Hassan his friend because of their roots and their places in society. Hassan was a Hazara and Amir was a Pashtun, Hassan was a servant-boy and Amir was rich. This is a major motif during the book: these divisions in their society are what separates the boys from practically being brothers.

Atonement -- Chapter one

This book is about a girl named Briony Tallis who lives a sheltered life during the 1930s with a rich family, and a love for writing--as well as a knack for it. So far the books seems okay, but I never quite believe 12-year-olds to be as deep and profound as they're made out to be in novels written in first-person narrative. In this book, Briony is made out to sound wise beyond her years and extremely insightful, but I doubt the fact that she's able to identify a power struggle between her cousin and herself at such an age. Oh well. At least it makes the book interesting to read and doesn't bore you with what would really come out of a 12-year-old's mouth. Speaking of interesting, it's intriguing how devoted Briony is to her writing and impressing her brother. I predict that she'll become quite a great writer, but her want for finding new character personalities (that aren't like her own) and her creativity pertaining to making up scandalous domestic-based stories are bound to get her in trouble....

Memoirs of a Geisha

This book was AWESOME: it was hard to put down, the story went by fast, and was really creative! The only thing that confused me is that it's called a "Memoir" but was written by a man...? Either way, I disregarded that fact and enjoyed the story because it was beautifully crafted and left me thinking about the characters long after the novel was done. The book was really interesting because you got to see Japan before, during and after WWII through the eyes of a geisha. I'd never known this before, but geishas were considered artists in the craft of entertainment: they learned instruments, dance, and conversation skills. Either way, this book gave both two insights into the life of a geisha: the good and the bad parts. Good, as in they got into a lot of aristocratic parties and met lots of people, Bad, as in their bodies were sold for money and they had no choice in life. For example, the main character, Chiyo (later known as Sayuri), was sold from her home to become a geisha, and had no say in what was going to happen in her future. Although this sort of thing happened in the past in the time of geishas, the story of Chiyo was quite an interesting one, and this book has come to be one of my favorites.