"; if(is_file("header.php")) include "header.php"; else include "../header.php"; ?>

Will you let me be your servant? The title of my review comes from the first line of one of my favorite hymns. I could not help but think of it as I read the last 80 pages of The Kite Runner in one sitting so I could discover how it ends. Even though I was enthralled by this powerful story, I was at first apprehensive about reading it when I heard that the book deals with war-torn Afghanistan. I am so glad that I read it. Khaled Hosseini definitely has a second calling as a novelist. His life somewhat mirrors his protagonist's, although Hosseini is a practicing doctor. I certainly hopes he considers a sabbatical and gives us more stories like this. Since our church book club is reading The Kite Runner, I kept looking for religious references. Well, one doesn't have to look far. However, this novel is bigger than religion. It taps into the spirituality that binds all religions together. For example, even though Islam is an important unifying theme of the book, Hosseini masterfully illustrates with words the Christian theme of "laying down one's life" for his friends. According to scripture, there is no greater love. This is another unifying theme of the book: love of county, love of tradition, love of family. And, like any good novelist, Hosseini's picture of life is not the "happy little trees" version. He shows the bad with the good and many emotions in between. The Kite Runner has earned a place on my "Must Reads of a Lifetime" list.