The Kite Runner - the book versus the movie

First day back from Christmas holidays. 
just have to say this: our bus doesn't know what time is and it's illegally cold everywhere and when we meet up in our usual class room and there's no one there... my first thought: "what the -swearing censor-, you're kidding me". But then someone whispered "movie in the cinema, the kite runner" and then everything was okay.

OKAY back on track.. my train of thought went off the rail (nice expression, yes, Ellen??)

I admit it, my expectations were high. The Kite Runner was really good. And by that I mean the book. I was looking forward to how they cut cut the book to the bone and make a movie out of it. It was a good movie, really. But I'm thinking it's better for people who haven't read the book. Because I've read the book before seeing the movie and now judging the movie to death, - I'm unofficially a die hard fan. And as much as I get annoyed when other people brag about a book being better than the movie, (people: «the new harry potter sucked!! the book was way better,» me: «shut your pie hole») I'm in that position myself.
Where did the childhood go? That was my first thought. My best reading experience from the book was to read about a childhood in Afghanistan. How they ate pomegrenate and read stories, how the weather was and the market and the kites and everything. So different from my own, so exotic and distant. I thought the childhood part was important in the book. Many pages were used to describe climate and atmosphere and people, but in the movie.. Where did it go? I missed it.
Guilt and jealousy as themes were almost invisible! In the book there were a lot of moments where Amir expressed jealousy, about how his father appreciated the Hazara servant boy as much as his own son (though it's later revealed that Hassan actually is his son). After the rape, Amir is clearly feeling guilt, - he doesn't sleep at night, he cannot look Hassan in the eyes and so on. The movie kind of forgot this.
Where did the harelip go? One of the most remarkable characteristics about Hassan is his harelip. And as a birthday gift, Baba gives him a surgery. I understand that this would be a little difficult to include in the movie, what would they do, operate on the little kid actor?
  How easy can it possibly be to “import” an Afghan child (Sohrab) with no paper records into USA? This struck me as odd. The movie makes it look so easy: you just get the child to the airport and ta-da! He's on a flight to America! It's not like that in the book, as it would be very difficult to get Sohrab out of the country at all, without mentioning USA! The US is known for strict foreign policy when it comes to immigration. And Afghanistan, the country they travel from, didn't exactly have the nicest government at that time.

  I know I sound like chef Gordon Ramsay when he's screaming for risottos, so I'll tell you something I very much DID like. I enjoyed the scene where Amir tells his father- and mother-in-law to sod off. Okay that's not what he does, but Amir stands up for Sohrab. It's a powerful moment. Amir has been a bit apathic about his life, he doesn't take much action. But after he decides to go get Sohrab, he seems to have changed. Because when his father-in-law refers to Sohrab as a Hazara boy, Amir stands up and almost yell that "you shall not not call that boy a Hazara in my presence ever again. He has a name. And it's Sohrab". We've seen that Amir has had difficulties with Soroya's father, because he's very sceptical to Amir and what he wants to do for a living. Though, in the book, he says something like he's proud to have him as his son-in-law when Amir marries. That seems to have disappeared.

There are also some other small things that I heard some of my friends mention, like how Amir doesn't go to the hospital after being beat up by Assef. 

We who read the book could sit on our high horses all day, but truth be told - I think they adapted the book pretty well. The essence is there, and the most important lines ("there is a way to be good again," "for you a thousand times over") aren't let out. And I know that if I hadn't read the book first, I would never have been so critical. Just saying. 

So just to conclude the book and the movie, since this is the last I'll write about it: great book. Good movie. I absolutely recommend the book. It's so well written. It's so warm you can put your hands on the atmosphere that's describe and actually feel it. Really. As I think I have mentioned before, I did not like the ending. I'm sorry. I feel like I'm seeing it through, perceiving it, unraveling the cheap ending. The line that's used through the book, it's just a bit too easy. As I would say it in daily speak, "it's so American". But look past that and the fact that the whole story is just not realistic,  and you have one superb book. Really. Loved it.