Happy Valentine's Day, all! I hope all of you eat lots of candy today and maybe even someone who loves you sent you some flowers? I know I've had my fair share of candy... maybe too much. So recently I've been listening to music that is relaxing. I can't get enough of Jack Johnson and Norah Jones right now. "Don't Know Why" and "Come Away With Me" are my favorite Norah Jones songs. I haven't decided what my favorite Jack Johnson songs are but they're both calming. And great to do my homework to.
"Don't Know Why"
Alright, now onto some reading logs. Haven't done one of those in a while...
The Kite Runner By: Khaled Hosseini Pages 190-215
Chapter fourteen starts in June 2001. Amir receives a call from Rahim Khan. He asked him to come to Pakistan, he was dying and wanted to talk to Amir one last time. His last word of the conversation were "There is a way to be good again," which caused Amir to believe that he knew what he had done to Hassan many, many years ago. Soraya is worried that Pakistan is not safe still and Amir will be killed, but he reassures her that he will be fine and it is something he has to do.
Chapter fifteen: Amir lands in Pakistan and goes to Rahim Khan's apartment. The man who opens the door, as Hosseini writes, was " a thing made of skin and bones pretending to be Rahim Kahn." The first few moments of their reunion were awkwardly silent. They made small talk, Amir's wife, Baba, and the war. He tells him about the army shooting people in the streets which influenced people to knock wholes in the walls of their homes so people could move from house to house instead of walking on the streets. The final page of the chapter Amir finds out that Rahim wasn't the only one who lived in Baba's house after they left, Hassan also lived there. Rahim says he wanted to write and tell him but he wasn't sure he wanted to know. He says that he wants to tell him something about Hassan, but first he has to tell him everything.
Chapter sixteen: Rahim was getting sicker and sicker and was having trouble taking care of the house by himself. So he went to search for Ali and Hassan. After asking around he found Hassan in a village in the the middle of nothing but bushes and spiny tree trunks and dead grass. When he walked to the door, Hassan greeted him by kissing his hands over and over. Finally, he took him inside and introduced him to his wife, Farzana. They were expecting a child in the winter. Rahim asked where Ali was. He had been killed in a land mine explosion. At dinner, Rahim asked Hassan to come to Pakistan with him and live in Baba's house. Politely, Hassan explained that he and Farzana had a life here and although they wanted to help, couldn't move back with him. Rahim said he understood. As they drank tea, Hassan asked question about Amir. Finally, he asked about Baba. Rahim told him he had died five years earlier of cancer. Hassan buried his face and broke into tears. He wept through the night. When Rahim woke up, Farzana and Hassan told him they would move back with him. When they arrived home, Rahim told them they could have one of the rooms upstairs, but Hassan refused. Saying, "What will Amir Agha think? What will he think when he comes back to Kabul after the war and finds that I have assumed his place in the houes?" He and his wife moved into the clay house in the backyard. For fourty days after he moved in, Hassan wore black to mourn for Baba. He cleaned everything as if Hassan were coming home. He even rebuilt the stone wall in the backyard that a rocket had destroyed. In the fall, they gave birth to a stillborn baby girl. Then, one day a women appeared outside the gates. Rahim questioned her and asked who she was but she didn't answer. She stood there until she collapsed a few seconds later. When she woke up, she asked where Hassan was. He held her hand as she said, "You smiled coming out of me, did anyone ever tell you?" Hassan ran away, realizing that this was Sanaubar, the woman who had left him and his father after giving birth to him. The next day, Hassan told her she was home now, and didn't need to worry. Farzana and him nursed her back to health. The winter of 1990 Hassan and Farzana gave birth to a healthy little boy, named Sohrab. Sanaubar fell in love with him at first sight and wouldn't let him go. They did everything together. When he was four, Sanaubar died in her sleep. In 1996 the Taliban came in and ended the fighting. Everyone celebrated. Hassan, however, was nervous, "God help the Hazaras now," he said.
I enjoyed reading this part of the book. Hassan had finally returned into the book and I was eager to keep reading to see what else the book would say about him. His loyalty to Baba and Amir after all those years amazes me. Spoiler-alert.... I learn his loyalty eventually ends in his death. So many sacrifices were made for Amir. Sad to think he wouldn't do the same... or would he??
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