The Kite Runner: Chapters 8–12

by Khaled Hosseini
Set in Afghanistan during a time of political and social upheaval, this novel traces the decades-long friendship of two boys from different social classes.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–7, Chapters 8–12, Chapters 13–19, Chapters 20–25
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. periphery
    the outside boundary or surface of something
    Hassan milled about the periphery of my life after that. I made sure our paths crossed as little as possible, planned my day that way.
  2. facade
    a showy misrepresentation to conceal something unpleasant
    But to me, his eyes betrayed him. When I looked into them, the facade faltered, revealed a glimpse of the madness hiding behind them.
  3. trundle
    move along on or as if on wheels or a wheeled vehicle
    I knew I’d never spend the money or listen to the radio, and the electric train would never trundle down its tracks in my room.
  4. precipitous
    extremely steep
    We were a few kilometers west of Mahipar Falls when Karim pulled to the side of the road. Mahipar—which means “Flying Fish”—was a high summit with a precipitous drop overlooking the hydro plant the Germans had built for Afghanistan back in 1967.
  5. dissertation
    a treatise advancing a point of view resulting from research
    Baba would enlighten me with his politics during those walks with long-winded dissertations.
  6. dilapidated
    in a state of decay, ruin, or deterioration
    The following summer, the summer of 1984—the summer I turned twenty-one—Baba sold his Buick and bought a dilapidated ’71 Volkswagen bus for $550 from an old Afghan acquaintance who’d been a high-school science teacher in Kabul.
  7. tenet
    a basic principle or belief that is accepted as true
    Nang. Namoos. Honor and pride. The tenets of Pashtun men.
  8. insinuation
    an indirect (and usually malicious) implication
    A whisper here, an insinuation there, and they fled like startled birds.
  9. dappled
    having spots or patches of color
    That night in bed, I thought of the way dappled sunlight had danced in Soraya’s eyes, and of the delicate hollows above her collarbone.
  10. interminable
    tiresomely long; seemingly without end
    I tossed in my sheets and stared at the ceiling, dismayed at the thought of six laborious, interminable nights of yelda until I saw her again.
  11. palliative
    moderating pain or sorrow by making it easier to bear
    “There is chemotherapy, of course,” he said. “But it would only be palliative.”
  12. demeanor
    the way a person behaves toward other people
    But there was a new reticence to Khanum Taheri’s demeanor.
  13. reticence
    the trait of being uncommunicative
    A reticence broken only by her secret, droopy smiles and the furtive, apologetic looks she cast my way when the general’s attention was engaged elsewhere.
  14. metastasize
    spread throughout the body
    “As you can see, the cancer’s metastasized,” he said.
  15. chastise
    scold or criticize severely
    And in the end the question that always came back to me was this: How could I, of all people, chastise someone for their past?
Created on Tue May 14 14:14:53 EDT 2013 (updated Fri Aug 08 13:17:33 EDT 2025)

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