Khaled Hosseini Trivia

1. The novel begins with Saboor narrating a fairy tale to his two children, Abdullah and Pari. In the story, an ogre-like creature known as a div visits different villages. What difficult choice does he pose to a family in each village?

From Quiz And The Mountains Echoed

Answer: Giving up one of their children

The div is described as a monster who visits different villages. At each village, he stops at any one house and knocks. The family living there then has until morning to decide which of their children to give to the div. If they were unable to decide on which child to give, the div would take all of the children in the morning. Saboor ends by telling the children that sometimes families have to sacrifice one to save the remaining.

From Quiz Cutting the Strings

Answer: kite fighting

Every winter the boys, Amir and Hassan, look forward to the kite fighting competitions that happen in every neighbourhood of Kabul, Afghanistan. The object of the tournament is to remain the last kite still aloft, and Amir manages to win one year in 1975, much to his father's joy. However the boys try, they are not good at making the kites and go to Saifo, a local kite maker to purchase their kites. Amir is the better kite fighter and Hassan serves as his assistant, feeding him rope and reeling it in. Hassan is magical as a kite runner, one who chases after the cut kites and finds where they fall to the ground.

From Quiz A Thousand Splendid Suns

Answer: Mariam

Mariam is the primary protagonist in the first part of the novel. She is a "harami" or an illegitimate child, and is sentenced to a life of mockery and sadness as being illegitimate was deemed both the mother's and the child's fault in 1960s Afghanistan, where she lives. Her father is Jalil, a prominent and rich businessman, who owns a movie theater and is married to three women. Her mother is Nana, Jalil's bitter ex-servant, who ridicules everything her once-lover does in order to strengthen his relationship with Mariam.

From Quiz 'The Kite Runner'

Answer: Afghanistan

Amir is born in Afghanistan and remains living there until the age of 18 when he emigrates to the USA with his father.

From Quiz The Kite Runner

Answer: Hassan

Hassan was Amir's loyal friend. Hassan protected Amir and would do anything, no matter how bad it was, for him.

From Quiz Cutting the Strings

Answer: He is a Hazara

Hazaras in Afghan society were considered lower than the more common Pashtun Afghans. Hazaras are mostly Shi'a Muslims whereas the Pashtuns are by and large Sunni. Hazaras are treated as the lower class of Afghan society and it is not surprising to see them as servants or in menial jobs. Assef, whose mother was a German and from whom he inherited his blond hair and blue eyes, was brought up on the doctrines taught by Adolph Hitler. He believes in the ethnic superiority of the Pashtuns. Thus, he persecutes Hassan for being a Hazara, and persecutes Amir for being Hassan's friend.

From Quiz A Thousand Splendid Suns

Answer: Shoemaker

Rasheed is a middle-class shoemaker who is initially decent around Mariam, as his only requests include her covering of her face. However, after Mariam suffers her first miscarriage, he begins a series of domestic violence and psychological abuse. He complains about everything Mariam does, and on one occasion, forces her to bite into pebbles to "show her how bad her food tastes."

From Quiz 'The Kite Runner'

Answer: By severing the strings of all other kites

The winner of a kite fighting tournament is the person with the last kite flying, and therefore the person who has severed the strings of the other kites. The strings are coated with shards of glass to help cut the strings.

From Quiz The Kite Runner

Answer: Baba

Amir tries his whole life to please Baba. They were never close until they were in America, but there was always some distance between them.

From Quiz And The Mountains Echoed

Answer: Kabul

Nabi worked for the Wahdatis, a wealthy couple who lived in an affluent section of Kabul. Nila, the wife, showed a keen interest in Nabi's family and even visited them in the village. When Nabi was taking her back home after the visit, she broke down and revealed the cause of her deep sadness to be her inability to have children of her own. Being secretly in love with Nila, Nabi eventually came up with the idea of having the Wahdatis adopt Pari which would give Nila a child and also provide financial assistance to his sister's family. Shadbagh is the fictional village where Saboor and his family lived.

From Quiz Cutting the Strings

Answer: rape

When Hassan is out running the last kite flying, the blue kite, for Amir, he encounters Assef and his cronies in an alley. Amir, wondering what is taking Hassan so long to return, gets to the alley and hides out of sight of the gang so as to not get assaulted by them. Hassan had run down the kite, and Assef initially demands the kite in return for Hassan's safe passage. Hassan is unwilling to relinquish control of the kite as he would do anything for Amir, and he knew how much the kite meant to Amir. Assef then pushes Hassan to the ground and has Wali and Kamal hold him down while Assef rapes him. Amir doesn't utter a word in all this, something that might have saved Hassan from this fate.

From Quiz A Thousand Splendid Suns

Answer: He is missing one leg

Laila is the daughter and youngest child of Hakim and Fariba, who are also parents to two young men: Ahmad and Noor. Both these boys joined Al-Mujahideen (Arabic for: those who fight in the Jihad), and they are eventually killed. Fariba goes into a depression, and soon begins to neglect her daughter. Laila's friendship with Tariq strengthens, and they eventually become lovers when she loses her virginity to him in her early teen years without marrying him first. Tariq's leg amputation was a result of a land-mine that he stepped on when he was just five years old.

From Quiz 'The Kite Runner'

Answer: Kite fighting scars

The more scars they have the more respect they gain.

From Quiz And The Mountains Echoed

Answer: Suleiman becomes paralyzed after a stroke

Nila and Suleiman had an unhappy and indifferent marriage right from the beginning. After they adopted Pari, they did try to behave like a family for her sake but the distance between the couple remained. A few years later, Suleiman had a stroke that left him paralyzed and unable to care for himself. Nila found herself unable to tend for him and chose to move to France with her daughter. Nabi continued to look after his employer, and it was later revealed that Suleiman had always been in love with Nabi. While this revelation did make Nabi uncomfortable in the beginning, the two settled into an easy companionship with Nabi staying beside Suleiman till the latter's death.

From Quiz Cutting the Strings

Answer: A black bear

Many stories about people may grow in the telling, but Baba's strength was great enough so that people never doubted for a moment that he had beaten a black bear in a wrestling match. Baba is much like a bear himself, dark, tall and hairy and muscular. He loves throwing parties and commands respect from the people around him. Baba is a well-to-do businessman who built a grand house in the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, Afghanistan. He is a man with many ideals, and he tries to live up to them and instill them in his son, Amir. He is a pillar of the community in Kabul, having founded an orphanage and always having money for the beggars.

From Quiz A Thousand Splendid Suns

Answer: She realizes that she is pregnant with Tariq's baby

Mariam is actually the one that tells Laila of Rasheed's proposition after Rasheed pays a man to convince her that Tariq was killed. Laila, who does not want her child to be deemed illegitimate and criticized for the rest of his/her life, decides to pass him/her off as Rasheed's. When her daughter Aziza is born, however, Rasheed openly expresses dismay at her gender, and begins abusing Laila as well.

From Quiz The Kite Runner

Answer: Pomegranate

Amir pelted Hassan with pomegranate from a tree in the cemetery. He was hoping to provoke Hassan into fighting him.

From Quiz Cutting the Strings

Answer: In the tank of a fuel truck

The first leg of Amir and Baba's exodus from Afghanistan is done in the back of the truck of a man called Karim. Karim is supposed to ferry the cargo of fleeing people to Jalalabad and from there his brother is supposed to take them the rest of the way across the border to Pakistan. However, Karim's brother's truck is broken, and has been that way for a while, much to the anger of the passengers. In Jalalabad, the refugees are forced to hide out in a basement before a solution is reached. Karim's cousin was the owner of a fuel truck, and the refugees were lowered into the tank itself. In complete darkness and gas fumes they drove across the border and eventually found themselves in Pakistan, away from the troubles of Afghanistan... or so thought Amir.

From Quiz A Thousand Splendid Suns

Answer: To run away from Afghanistan after stealing money from Rasheed's wallet.

Laila had been secretly stealing money from her husband's wallet for the past year, and when she tells Miriam her full story, including her daughter's illegitimacy, Mariam agrees to join her in running away. However, when everything seems to be going well, the two women are betrayed by a man they thought they could trust, and the police send them back to Afghanistan where they meet an enraged Rasheed. He beats them both up pretty badly and deprives them of food and water for days before finally realizing that they have had enough.

From Quiz 'The Kite Runner'

Answer: To escape the war

They emigrate in 1981 to avoid the war in Afghanistan and go to live in America where they know many fellow Afghans who have travelled there seeking safety.

From Quiz The Kite Runner

Answer: Right after his thirteenth birthday

Amir planted money and a watch under Hassan's bed. Once it was found, Hassan and his father decided that it would be best if they left the employment of Amir's family.

From Quiz And The Mountains Echoed

Answer: To reclaim their property

Idris had studied and become a doctor while his more flamboyant cousin, Timur, held various jobs including that of a used car salesman. While Idris appreciated Timur's generosity, he resented the fact that his cousin made sure his benevolent acts were well publicized. When the cousins returned to Kabul, they found out that Nabi had inherited the Wahdatis house after Suleiman's death and the place had since then been given to a Greek doctor, Markos, to stay in. Markos had come to Afghanistan to help with the rehabilitation process.

From Quiz Cutting the Strings

Answer: a teacher

Much to her father's chagrin, Soraya wants to become a teacher, and enrolls in San Jose State in that program. General Taheri wants Soraya to be a lawyer or a political scientist, but Soraya realizes that this is merely an attempt to further himself through her achievements. Soraya started teaching when she was but in the fourth grade. A maid hired at her father's house, Ziba, was illiterate and had requested Soraya's help in writing letters to her sister in Iran. Soraya offered to help Ziba learn to read and write, and within a year Ziba was already reading children's books. That's when Soraya realized that she wanted to become a teacher.

From Quiz A Thousand Splendid Suns

Answer: Zalmai

When Laila realizes that she is pregnant with Rasheed's child this time, her initial plan is to terminate her pregnancy without her husband's knowledge, because her contempt for the man makes her feel she might not love the child. However, after thinking, and slowly realizing that the child had no fault in her chronic suffering, she announces that she is pregnant once more. Zalmai is born, and unlike Aziza, he is loved equally by both his mother and his father.

From Quiz 'The Kite Runner'

Answer: Soraya

Jamila is Soraya's mother, Farzana is Hassan's wife, and Sanaubar is Hassan's mother.

From Quiz The Kite Runner

Answer: 18

They had to leave because the fighting had started there with the Russians. They crossed the border inside the tank of a gas truck.

From Quiz Cutting the Strings

Answer: Rahim Khan

Out of the blue, Rahim Khan calls up Amir and tells him that "there is a way to be good again". Rahim Khan doesn't explicitly say that he knows what secret Amir has been hiding all of these years, but he certainly alludes to it. Amir's need for redemption and Rahim Khan's unasked question make Amir get on a plane to Pakistan to meet his old friend and mentor. Rahim Khan had been Baba's business partner. He always encouraged Amir, especially his writing. Amir's most treasured gift was a leather-bound notebook given to him by Rahim Khan. In it, Amir started his career as a writer.

From Quiz 'The Kite Runner'

Answer: Cancer

Amir's father develops cancer but tries to hide it for some time. Eventually he passes away in his sleep.

From Quiz The Kite Runner

Answer: Lung cancer

They found out that his father had lung cancer. He had spent many years smoking unfiltered cigarettes.

From Quiz And The Mountains Echoed

Answer: He is the son of Iqbal, Abdullah's half brother.

Saboor marries Parwana after the death of his first wife. Their eldest son, Omar, dies when hardly two weeks old due to a bitter winter. This is the trigger for Saboor to agree to Pari's adoption when Parwana is pregnant the second time. After Saboor's death, Iqbal and his family, along with Parwana, move to Pakistan seeking refuge. Once the Taliban are defeated, the family returns to reclaim their land, only to find that Adel's father has taken over the entire village and no trace is left of their old house. Gholam befriends Adel while Iqbal approaches the court to regain his land. The court officials are bribed by Adel's father, and Iqbal's original property papers are claimed to have been lost in a fire.

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Last Updated Apr 27 2024 5:49 AM

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