border's bookclub, the curve damansara

6th april 2007

we (swagata and i) meet brian first. my sister had met him last month when they had the discussion on kiran desai's `inheritance of loss'. we are thrilled when they tell us that 15 people are turning up.

this is an absolute first for me. this gathering, to talk about a book we have read. and it is so exhaustively exciting.

after around 5 minutes, ida and shirley come and introduce themselves. and then jade. and half way through our `intelligent' exchanges :-), nicholas walks in, says the traffic is bad. he is an educator and a philosopher (no offence nick!!!)

eight people do not turn up. sigh!!

we discuss hosseini's kite runner.

brian talks of friendship. jade feels closest to amir. shirley says baba does not love amir any less throughout his high expectation of his son and as a result, disappointment. she asks if things can possibly be different if one exposes oneself to a different environment, ida cries when she reads that amir has wronged hassan. my sister says expectation of all parents are similar to this and she speaks of rahim khan being kinder to amir as a child than baba ever is. for amir, the need to be patted, loved and appreciated is fulfilled by his father's best friend.

i slip out `stupid amir' and say i feel closest to baba. i insist on the shafi and sunni differences, the hazara and pashtun, their upbringing, their cultures, practices, teachings etc, that these have shaped amir's and hassan's characters.

how do we get out of this boundary created for us? brian says there is a small voice directing us to do things differently...justly, our conscience! it is almost a whisper. do we listen to it or do we habitually ignore it?

nicholas talks of choices and happiness. he talks of closure. jade wants to know why we need this closure. i want to know if they think amir finally redeems himself. is redeeming oneself closure? brian asks me why i think the end of the book is perfect. jade thinks so too. the rest of them are half way through the book.

i say this is the saddest book i have read for a while because of the guilt that hosseini continues to stress on. brian redefines sadness and i see his point. maybe i shall edit my blog review. maybe not.


we drink starbucks coffee, think, discuss, listen, agree, disagree and question. two hours of stimulation and great ponderings. i dont even realise when the cofee gets over. did i drink mine at all?

hmm.

thanks guys and girls. it was a pleasure.

looking forward to travelling `the road' on the 11th of may. see you then. ;-)