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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Modest Man Wins Again

I'm still amazed that these books have become such a phenomenon ... It's almost a study in how not to write a bestseller. They're set in this far-flung, very enigmatic place with lots of tragedy. The good guys die. I'm completely surprised.
The very modest Khaled Hosseini is interviewed in The Times. His second novel A Thousand Splendid Suns has just won The Times/WHSmith Paperback of the Year.

6 comments:

  1. I am reading Kite Runner right now (courtesy Gwen, who has been kind enough to lend it) and I am becoming a fan!

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  2. Why would he be surprised? a lot of people identifying with good guys dying, people have moved from fantasy to reality.

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  3. when i first read The Kite Runner, no novel has made me realize how lucky I am to be in Malaysia, and everything surrounding me is all but trivial matters.
    He deserves to win with A Thousand Splendid Suns. Touching,indeed.

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  4. I'd be amazed too, if I wrote that drivel and watched it sellabillion!
    :-)

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  5. I wish all these anonymous people would have some names, even if it was x or z or anything at all....

    "Anonymous" is just so.....annoying!

    Or maybe that is the entire point?

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  6. Damyanti -

    What do you think? the best movel is the one you write, in your head, while you're reading the actual novel. To write a novel that reads like how you want a novel to read, how saleable is that? everyone identifying with the novel because they interpret it the way they want to.

    "They're set in this far-flung, very enigmatic place with lots of tragedy. The good guys die. I'm completely surprised."

    Good grief, all this "negativity", and hasn't been edited out yet? :)

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