In THE KITE RUNNER, Khaled Hosseini portrays the effects of a half-century's tumultuous politics on the people and culture of Afghanistan. In part a coming-of-age story, the novel begins in the 1970's, and is told through the relationship between the narrator, Amir, and his friend/servant/constant-companion Hassan. Although Amir's father is not religious, he and his son are Sunni and privileged. Hassan is Hazara, a member of the underclass. In the excerpt that Barry Rosen has picked for us, Amir is a school boy who is learning to read and write, while Hassan stays behind to do the menial chores of the household.