Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: A contrived soap opera set in a fascinating culture.

The Kite Runner has some admirable features; however, compelling story-telling is not one of them. The descriptions of Afgan culture and society, before, during, and after the Taliban, are the novel's only redeeming features. The story line reads like it was written by a bright high school student. It uses the worst, most transparent plot devices and cliches. I laughed out loud at several of the most predictable points in the book, and believe me, this is no comedy. I think that too many of the reviewers here are being generous because of the very worthwhile descriptions of Afgan culture, one that we Americans ought to know a lot more about than we do. As a work of literary art, this book fails in some very obvious and compelling ways. No committed reader of fiction could take the plot seriously, but it still might be worth your time if only for the cultural dimension alone.