Early Life
Khaled Hosseini was born on the 4th of March in 1965, in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is a very bright middle-aged writer. He is the son of Nasser, a diplomat in the Afghan Foreign Ministry, while his mother was a Persian Language teacher in Afghanistan. He spent eight years in Kabul. Later, due to his father’s job, the family moved to several places. In 1976 they moved to Paris in 1976. Due to the Saur Revolution, they never returned to their homeland. Later, the Hosseini family sought political asylum in the United States. During his early years in the United States, Hosseini faced cultural shock and isolation due to the language barriers, which he later fictionalized in his works.
Education
Khaled Hosseini graduated from high school in San Jones in 1984. Later, he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Santa Clare University in 1988. In 1993, he earned his M.D. from the University Of California San Diego School Of Medicine. After completing his education, he became a medical practitioner and continued his job for ten years. However, throughout his medical schooling, he continued writing short stories, expressing his sentiments about his homeland, making people aware of life in Afghanistan in the pre-war period.
Some Important Facts of His Life
- Khaled Hosseini is one of the successful writers of this century. He has created a charity called the Khaled Hosseini Foundation to support and help the people of Afghanistan.
- His universally acclaimed novel, The Kite Runner, used for a movie adaptation in 2007.
- He speaks English fluently along with his native Pashto and Dari.
- While working on his residency, he married Roya. The couple has two children, Farah and Haris.
- On account of his literary services, he earned many achievements, including the Exclusive Books Boeke Prize in 2004, British Book Awards, and Book Sense Book of the Year with various other awards.
His Career
Khaled is an effectively influential author of recent times, who had practiced medicine for several years before taking up the pen. Although he did well in the chosen field, the magnetic pull of the homeland kept on persuading him to make people aware of Afghanistan. Having a great interest in literature led him to write short stories and novels. Weaving the story of two Afghan boys, he wrote his first novel, The Kite Runner, in 2003. Although the initial sale of the book was not quick, his hard work paid off after a time. The book made inroads into the literary world and introduced him to the literary canons of that time.
Prompted by this success, Khaled decided to reserve more time to his writing with an intent to present pre and post-war Afghan to the world. Following the success of his first work, he returned to his homeland after twenty-seven years. He was devastated to see the war-ridden area. Although he returned from the United States in 2003, the destruction and devastation he witnessed there always pricked his conscience. Keeping in mind the women’s experiences under Taliban dictatorship and in the time of war, he published his next novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, in 2007. The book earned massive success and immediately became an international bestseller. Later, in 2013, he presented the hardships of two siblings and their family circumstances in his novel And the Mountain Echoed. Sea Prayer, published in 2018, is his recent work that presents the story through images.
His Style
Khaled, as a writer, with his creative, witty, and philosophical ideas brought variety to the literary world. His early works primarily focused on life in Afghanistan. Starting from the overtly topical vein in his novel, The Kite Runner, he shifted to the social and political climate and the radical shifts in Afghanistan. He chose ordinary characters to present the miserable plight of the people living in the war-ridden area. Using a wistful writing style in his pieces, he successfully creates certain experiences for his audience. Implying a haughty and mighty style, he explored the tragedies of life in his works. In fact, his imaginative and humanistic ideas, coupled with his unconditional love for his homeland, allowed him to document his unique thoughts. The recurring themes in most of his novels are destruction, war, gender oppression, and patriarchy and unfairness and injustice.
Some Major Works of Khaled Hosseini
- Best Novels: Some of his major works include And the Mountains Echoed, The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and Sea Prayer.
Khaled Hosseini’s Impacts on Future Literature
Khaled Hosseini’s opinions about Afghan life before and after the war have won accolades from people all over the world. His distinctive writing approach and unique way of expression have made him stand among the best writers of the world. Many great writers and critics applaud his ideas and owe much to his inventiveness in nostalgic writing. He has successfully documented his ideas about his country while living in the United States that various people from Afghanistan now try to copy his style.
Famous Quotes
- “I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded; not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.” (The Kite Runner)
- “It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn’t make everything all right. It didn’t make ANYTHING all right. Only a smile. A tiny thing. A leaf in the woods, shaking in the wake of a startled bird’s flight. But I’ll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting. (The Kite Runner)
- “They say, Find a purpose in your life and live it. But, sometimes, it is only after you have lived that you recognize your life had a purpose, and likely one you never had in mind.” (And the Mountains Echoed)
- “Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting.” (A Thousand Splendid Suns)
