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Chapters
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Chapters
Chapters at a glance
The Kite Runner has 25 chapters.
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Chapters25 items
Chapter 1
Amir, narrating from the present as an adult in San Francisco, looks back to the winter of 1975 in Kabul. He says a single moment in an alley has defined everything that followed.
Chapter 2
The narrative jumps back to Amir's childhood in Kabul. We meet Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant Ali.
Chapter 3
This chapter belongs to Baba. Amir describes his father as a giant of a man, physically and socially, someone who built an orphanage with his own money and wrestled a bear in a st…
Chapter 4
The chapter fills in the history of Ali and Baba's families, mirroring the relationship between Amir and Hassan one generation back.
Chapter 5
A political coup shakes Kabul overnight, and the boys wake to gunfire. Scared, they huddle together.
Chapter 6
Winter arrives in Kabul, and for Amir and Hassan, it means kite-fighting season. Amir describes the joy and competition of kite fighting, including the brutal practice of running…
Chapter 7
The kite tournament arrives. Amir fights his way to the final and cuts the last kite, winning.
Chapter 8
After the tournament, Amir gets the attention from Baba he always wanted, but he cannot enjoy it. Hassan's silence and visible suffering make Amir increasingly uncomfortable.
Chapter 9
Amir's birthday party is lavish and Baba spends generously. Amir receives many gifts, including a special notebook from Rahim Khan.
Chapter 10
Years pass. The Soviet invasion forces Baba and Amir to flee Afghanistan.
Chapter 11
Amir and Baba have been in the United States for about two years, living in Fremont, California. Baba struggles badly with the adjustment.
Chapter 12
Amir pursues Soraya through the slow, formal channels of Afghan courtship. He visits the Taheris' flea market table regularly, exchanges small talk with Soraya while her father wa…
Chapter 13
Amir and Soraya marry quickly because Baba is dying. They skip the traditional long engagement and hold the wedding while Baba can still attend.
Chapter 14
It is 2001. Amir gets a call from Rahim Khan, his father's old friend and the one adult who always saw Amir clearly.
Chapter 15
Amir arrives in Peshawar and finds Rahim Khan in a small apartment, visibly ill and much older than Amir remembers. They spend time together, and Rahim Khan begins to fill in the…
Chapter 16
Rahim Khan fills in the gap in Amir's knowledge by telling him what happened after Amir left Afghanistan. He explains how he tracked down Hassan and Farzana in Hazarajat and convi…
Chapter 17
Rahim Khan hands Amir a letter Hassan wrote before his death and then delivers the worst news: the Taliban executed Hassan and Farzana in the street after they refused to leave Ba…
Chapter 18
Amir sits alone after Rahim Khan's revelation and works through what it means. He replays childhood memories and sees them differently now that he knows Hassan was his brother.
Chapter 19
Amir travels into Afghanistan with a man named Farid, a driver arranged by Rahim Khan. The country Amir sees is unrecognizable.
Chapter 20
Amir and Farid reach Kabul. Amir is devastated by what the city has become.
Chapter 21
Amir arrives in Kabul for the first time since leaving as a boy, and the city he remembers is gone. The Taliban have transformed it into a place of fear and silence.
Chapter 22
Amir meets the Taliban official who has Sohrab, and the reveal is one of the novel's biggest turns: the man is Assef, the same bully who raped Hassan decades ago.
Chapter 23
Amir wakes up in a Pakistani hospital, badly injured from Assef's beating. Farid has brought him there.
Chapter 24
Amir tries to arrange for Sohrab to come to America, but the bureaucratic and legal obstacles are enormous. At one point, a well-meaning official suggests that Sohrab might need t…
Chapter 25
Sohrab survives but becomes almost completely withdrawn. Amir eventually gets him to America, where he and Soraya try to build a life with the boy.
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