Book · 2003
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
A boy in 1970s Kabul watches his best friend get assaulted in an alley, says nothing, and spends the rest of his life trying to buy back the silence.
What does Reddit think of The Kite Runner?
Every high-upvote suggestmeabook thread here runs a similar play: someone asks for a gut-punch book, a commenter names this one, then redirects toward A Thousand Splendid Suns as the harder hit. The ↑305 comment says it plainly: 'Everyone knows him for The Kite Runner, but a Thousand Splendid Suns broke my heart into pieces. I literally threw the book.' The ↑329 comment agrees almost word for word, crediting this book as Hosseini's 'most well known work' while naming Suns as the one that 'brings on the most tears.' The ↑738 comment splits the difference, calling both 'the two most moving books' the commenter has read without picking a winner. What isn't in dispute is the ↑290 account of a reader who says fiction rarely makes them cry and was sobbing by the last page of this one anyway. It also turns up unprompted in a high-school syllabus list (↑283) next to Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies, the kind of assigned-reading company that explains why r/suggestmeabook assumes you've already read it.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · The gateway book Hosseini fans use before steering you to A Thousand Splendid Suns
- · A fixture of high-school reading lists, cited unprompted next to Animal Farm
- · Praised specifically for making self-described non-criers cry
- · Fame treated as separate from, and sometimes lesser than, his other novels
Common praise
- + The ↑290 commenter says fiction rarely makes them cry and was sobbing by the last page of this one specifically.
- + The ↑738 comment calls it one of the two most moving books the commenter has read, full stop, even while ranking the other higher.
- + It shows up unprompted on personal best-of and syllabus lists (↑283, ↑250) as a title people assume needs no introduction.
Common criticism
- − In two of the clearest comparisons here (↑329, ↑305), naming this book gets immediately followed by redirecting to A Thousand Splendid Suns as the harder emotional hit.
- − The ↑329 and ↑305 comments both frame it as the entry point 'everyone knows' rather than the best of Hosseini's three novels.
- − Nobody in the displayed excerpts argues it's Hosseini's strongest work; the recurring move is to concede its fame and then recommend something else by him instead.
Who it's for
Start here mainly because it's the entry point Reddit assumes you've already taken; nearly every top-voted suggestmeabook comment treats it as the famous one you graduate from, not the best one. If a book has to make a self-described non-crier sob by the last page, per the ↑290 account, that's still a real recommendation on its own terms. Expect your high school syllabus to have gotten there first; it shows up unprompted next to Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies in personal reading-list threads.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for The Kite Runner?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“*A Thousand Splendid Suns* and *The Kite Runner* by Khaled Hosseini are absolutely the two most moving books I have read. The latter is probably more brutally sad, but they're both immensely powerful and heart-wrenching reads.
“Khaled Hosseini, people mostly know the Kite Runner, but A Thousand Splendid Suns & And the Mountains Echoed are equally heart wrenching. I absolutely love his books.
“The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Fictional stories in books or movies very rarely make me cry, but I was sobbing by the last page of this one
“The Kite Runner & A Thousand Spendid Suns. Both by Khaled Hosseini 😣 Might not ever reread but I love them
“Add the Kite Runner too. Hassan deserved the world.
“The Kite Runner devastated me even more than ATSS.
“The Kite Runner f**** with me every time. As a Fantasy/Sci-Fi fan it genuinely shocks me that my favorite story ever told is an extremely realistic look at the conflicts in Afghanistan.
“The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (fiction). It will give you a deep insight about middle east in the most effective way possible.
“Idk why but splendid suns hit me waaaay harder than the kite runner, although most people seem to feel the opposite. Never cried at a book till that point
“I am blown away that Anne Frank's Diary is being banned that feels really wrong. Also to Kill a Mockingbird, and the Kite runner. I read all of these in school and they felt like important books to read
“The Kite Runner absolutely obliterated me.
“The Kite Runner. Yes, I know it was popular AF when it came out. If you’ve never read it, do yourself a favor and change that. It’s endlessly sad, and somehow powerfully hopeful. You’re gonna cry. Pretty hard. And then smile. For you, a thousand times over.
“And I found The Kite Runner incredibly affecting too.
“Nobody said The Kite Runner? That book sat on my shelf for two years. Once I started reading it I tore through it in two days.
“The Kite Runner is the only book that has made me really cry. Can't read another of Hussein's books. Great, but too heartbreaking.
Convinced? Pick up The Kite Runner
What else does r/suggestmeabook read?
Other books mentioned in the same sub, ranked. Shared-sub overlap with this title breaks ties.
The Kite Runner — frequently asked
Is The Kite Runner sadder than A Thousand Splendid Suns?+
Not according to the two clearest comparisons here. The ↑305 comment says 'everyone knows him for The Kite Runner, but a Thousand Splendid Suns broke my heart into pieces,' and the ↑329 comment separately calls Suns the one that 'brings on the most tears' while naming this book only as Hosseini's most famous work. The ↑738 comment is the outlier, calling both 'the two most moving books' without ranking them.
Why does Reddit always mention A Thousand Splendid Suns when talking about The Kite Runner?+
Because Hosseini fans keep using this book as the on-ramp. The ↑329 and ↑305 comments both concede it's his best-known work, then steer the reader toward Suns as the one that actually 'broke my heart into pieces' or 'brings on the most tears.' It's a recommendation pattern, not a knock on this book alone.
Is The Kite Runner worth reading if I don't usually cry at books?+
Yes, per the ↑290 account, which says fiction rarely gets to the commenter emotionally and describes 'sobbing by the last page' of this one anyway, crediting it with teaching them to find humor and grief in the same story. That's a specific claim about this book, not the wider Hosseini catalogue.
Is The Kite Runner commonly taught in schools?+
It shows up that way in the sample. The ↑283 comment lists it among books already taught in a contemporary-cultures class alongside A Long Way Gone and Behind the Beautiful Forevers, and the ↑250 r/booksuggestions comment recalls it from a high school reading list next to Animal Farm and To Kill a Mockingbird.