Amir

"Some people save you because they love you. Some people save you because of guilt."

"I am the ghost of everything your father ever did wrong."

"A boy who has been seen sexually abused will not be the same boy anymore."

"I remembered Baba, and I remembered him as strong."

"I was going to run that kite, and I was going to run it well."

"His son was a coward who couldn't stand up for anyone."

"I thought of Hassan's final act of defiance."

"Kabul, 1975. The last day of Amir's childhood."

"I was a coward. I was a thief."

"He was a kindred spirit with me."

"Sometimes, I lie awake at night wondering what would have happened."

"I had finally found what I was looking for."

"Soraya was honest, but I was still a liar."

"I watched the twin towers fall."

"Writing had always been my way out."

"There was no honorable way to behave dishonorably."

"I wouldn't allow myself to forget."

"I had to face my past to have a future."

"Assef represented everything I feared in myself."

"The scar on my lip was a reminder of my cowardice."

"I was learning that forgiveness isn't simply about absolving a person of blame."

"Loyalty is rewarded with betrayal."

"I would write myself back together."

"I wondered if that made me a monster"

"Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay"

"Somewhere in this town, behind all the crazy rationing, printing of counterfeit money, and ya-ya political sentiments, a young girl is waiting"

"I became what I am today at the age of twelve"

"It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, or a few minutes, can change the course of a whole lifetime"

"I could wade into this river, let my sins drown to the bottom, let the current carry them away into the Arabian Sea, and tomorrow I would be a walk away from forgiveness"

"I think of Rahim Khan, of the day he saved my life, and I wonder if he's still alive, somewhere in this vast world"