Note from 'The Kite Runner' Author

Dr. Patrick Dooley, Board of Trustees Professor of Philosophy at St. Bonaventure University, will occasionally send a note to an author whose writing inspires him.

Seldom does he expect a response.

So Dooley’s expectations were low when he e-mailed a student’s class journal entry to the agent of Khaled Hosseini, author of the national bestselling novel “The Kite Runner.” A response from the author came this week, and in it was a personal note from Hosseini to the student, SBU senior Adam Mutch.

To say that Dooley was surprised is putting it mildly. “Frankly, I was blown away,” he said.

Dooley read “The Kite Runner” in 2006 while he was a scholar in residence at San Jose State University’s John Steinbeck Center. Hosseini lives in the San Jose area.

Like millions of readers worldwide, Dooley was captivated by the emotionally gripping story of two young half-brothers, Amir and Hassan, caught up in the destruction of their native Afghanistan. The characters’ relationship is altered when Amir witnesses the attack and rape of Hassan and is forever haunted by feelings of cowardice and disloyalty.

Dooley introduced the novel in his “Literature and Art” classes this semester, asking students to submit journals on a number of topics. Mutch’s journal entry about the narrator’s observation that “the past is always with us” was, in a word, “extraordinary,” said Dooley.

“Adam perceptively notes that whereas Amir is obsessed with his past, Hassan has an ability to move on with his life, unencumbered by past events (even horrible ones) in his life,” Dooley wrote in his e-mail to Hosseini’s agent.

It’s an insight into the book that had “completely missed me,” Dooley said. “Adam’s one of those cases where the teacher learns from the student. This guy really has talent. It was very insightful observation.”

Dooley’s e-mail made it to Hosseini, who was impressed enough to send a response that included this note to Mutch: “I admire your insights and appreciate the essay you have written. It was great for me to read how my story resonated with you.” The author urged Mutch to face his future with courage. “With a generous heart and kind spirit, you can carve out your future and perhaps change that of the world as well.”

An excited Dooley went to class Monday prepared to celebrate the arrival of Hosseini’s note with Mutch and his classmates. A rare absence by Mutch, who was nursing a mild case of food poisoning, couldn’t quash Dooley’s enthusiasm. He read the note anyway.

Mutch found out later that day from another student in the class, who showed him a copy of the e-mail from Hosseini.

“It was pretty cool,” said Mutch, a journalism and mass communication major from Penfield, N.Y. “I didn’t know that Professor Dooley had sent it off. It’s one thing if he were kind of a minor author, but Hosseini is such a popular and important author. It’s amazing.”

Mutch said the note is particularly meaningful because he, too, “harbors thoughts of writing fiction one day.”

Dooley made sure that Mutch was properly recognized in his next class.

“Adam was flattered and the people in the class gave him a hand,” said Dooley. “We walked downstairs together after class and he thanked me. It’s pretty amazing, but it’s just the sort of classroom experience that goes on around here.”

In the photo, provided by St. Bonaventure University, Dr. Patrick Dooley, holds a copy of “The Kite Runner,” while meeting with senior Adam Mutch of Penfield, N.Y., in St. Bonaventure University’s Friedsam Library.


On a personanl note: Dr. Dooley was one of my philosphy professors. He divided us into groups for one project, and we had to debate other groups. One of the people in my group was John O'Rourke, who now co-owns O'Rourke and O'Rourke Funeral Home in Salamanca, and who was a roommate of Tony "Chico" DeSio of the Mount Jewett Charter School Coalition. OK. I thought that was interesting.