The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Feb 01, 2008

Sandhya rated it

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I've been trying to read some good Pakistani writing in English for a while now. And I'm glad I made an introduction with Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, who earlier wrote Moth Smoke, a novel, which Rahul Bose is now adapting into a film.

Lately, there has been a flowering of young Pakistani writers like Hamid and Kamila Shamsie (Cartography, Salt And Saffron), and in many ways, this is the first literary stirring that the country is witnessing.

The Reluctant F...more

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Oct 22, 2010

Paul rated it

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Shelves: novels

A real bowl of literary prawn crackers - you eat and eat and they taste of nothing, they're entirely synthetic, like a form of extruded plastic, but you can't stop and then you realise the whole bowl is gone and what was that all about? This is not a good book and yet it was compelling, I can't deny it, a smooth, snaky insinuating monologue which in retrospect and often in real-time spect is a ridiculous tissue of allegory, you've seen all this in other reviews but it's all horribly true - our r...moreA real bowl of literary prawn crackers - you eat and eat and they taste of nothing, they're entirely synthetic, like a form of extruded plastic, but you can't stop and then you realise the whole bowl is gone and what was that all about? This is not a good book and yet it was compelling, I can't deny it, a smooth, snaky insinuating monologue which in retrospect and often in real-time spect is a ridiculous tissue of allegory, you've seen all this in other reviews but it's all horribly true - our reluctant hero's name is Changez - that's right

Ch-ch-ch-changez to you!

and his svelte not-quite-attainable lurve is (Am) Erica

I hope Mohsin Hamid wakes up in hot sweats in the middle of the night thinking Oh God, how could I have done that!

The fundamentalism of the title is from the business slogan of the arbitrage company he works for in New York, "focus on the fundamentals" - that's the fundamentalism he's reluctant about. Okay, nice joke.

That said, a lot of the reviews of this book would have you believe it's an apology for al Qaeda - no, it's not, Changez is an extraordinarily secular Muslim - I think the M word is used once only in the whole book, and nowhere does he speak of Islam. The opposition to America which is eventually accepted and embodied by our troubled young man is entirely political - he does give a faint but pertinent impression of America as the lover who kills you or as the murderer who loves you. But oh dear, this kind of thing is not good :

"I had always resented the manner in which America conducted itself in the world; your country's constant interference in the affairs of others was insufferable. Vietnam, Korea, the straits of Taiwan ..."

I thought there was so much more to be said about how the East wants what the West has got without wanting to be colonised and disembowelled by the West, and how America is the very embodiment of guilty pleasure, and how this love hate thing is like to drive entire countryfuls of young men raving mad, given the repressive anti-sex poverty-stricken societies they come from, and how this explains a whole lot, but Hamsid's touch was so light you could almost have mistaken it for shallowness.

Two and a half.(less)

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Jun 08, 2008

Bookchica rated it

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Recommends it for: all

On a flight back to US from India, about half an hour was left to land in San Francisco, everyone was asleep, when we heard the captain speaking over the intercom. All I heard was something about how we were about to land in Japan. In my sleepy state I assumed that something was wrong with the plane and was about to panic when my husband told me the rest of the captain's message. Apparently we were denied entry into United States because a passenger was on their no-fly list.

On landin...moreOn a flight back to US from India, about half an hour was left to land in San Francisco, everyone was asleep, when we heard the captain speaking over the intercom. All I heard was something about how we were about to land in Japan. In my sleepy state I assumed that something was wrong with the plane and was about to panic when my husband told me the rest of the captain's message. Apparently we were denied entry into United States because a passenger was on their no-fly list.

On landing in Japan, as we all emptied the plane, I saw a family of about 6 - a young boy, bearded, about 20, and women of different ages wearing burkha's - sitting quietly in the center seats not meeting anyones eyes. I remarked to my husband about how horrid they must be feeling, that just because they are Muslims they must have shown up on the security radar for US. Once the aircraft had been emptied out, the family was brought out with about 10 men surrounding them and taken away. We boarded the plane again and went on our way. Once there, we told our friends about our "adventure" and had discussions about racial profiling, heard stories from others about how they had been subjected to profiling. Pro's and con's of racial profiling, US government, security, prejudice, patriotism, terrorism.. I'm sure you can all imagine what was discussed and debated. I remember sympathizing with the family on the plane.

About a week later, I read that the young boy had later been sent to US and arrested on arrival. Allegedly he had gone to Pakistan and had taken part in a terrorist camp. I did not follow the case since then.

Those of you who are still reading this post, thanks :). Throughout the book, as I heard Changez (the young Pakistani protagonist) talk about his life in America, I followed him on all the various issues he tackles in the book. Be it his social identity, his professional acceptance, America's fair treatment to him and his achievements. But as I finished the book, my thoughts forked out to this incident.
I don't know what happened to the boy in the plane. How accurate were the accusations? Did he or why did he join a camp and many questions that went through my mind. Many that would remain unanswered. I did wish Mohsin Hamid had ended the book on a definite note, but then that would have made it more fictional than real in account.

This extremely fluid, unapologetic, frank, point of view had me hooked from page 1. Changez a young muslim, confident, achiever, confused, looking for acceptance, searching for identity, guilty of abandoning family, trying to define his patriotism, enjoying the fruits of his labor - all his layers come through with such clarity. I really enjoyed the narrative style. It flowed naturally. It felt like you were right there listening in on an actual conversation.

Mohsin Hamid has not held back Changez's thoughts to be politically correct, or tried to portray Changez as a victim. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an honest, at times appealing and at times disconcerting, account of a man's internal thoughts, who knows that he may be a few feet away from death and has nothing to lose by telling all.

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Jul 13, 2007

Sanjay rated it

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Nine Reasons To Read This One:

Because it’s short, yet evocative: a relief at a time when authors needlessly pile on the pages.

Because it’s hard enough to sustain a distinctive voice for a dramatic monologue in a poem (ask Robert Browning), leave alone an entire novel.

Because the voice is just right – formal without being sombre; precise without being stiff.

Because, unlike in John Updike’s Terrorist, you can empathise with and understand Changez, th...more

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May 11, 2007

atiya rated it

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Mohsin Hamid also wrote "Moth Smoke," and that brought me to this book--the flashy title could have been ignored. At first, the way he wrote it seemed charming but quickly turned annoying. The story is about a young Pakistani guy who comes to America, goes to Yale, and earns his way to a highly competitive job as a financial analyst. He is in love with an annoying girl. He assimilates and loves his life in America but his outlook changes after September 11. Unfortunately, Hamid doesn't...more

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Dec 28, 2007

Arsalan rated it

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I loved Moth Smoke but Hamid falls woefully short of the poetry and inventiveness of his first novel in this hackneyed, boring and utterly forgettable novelette that fails both as a polemical rant against american foreign policy (Rage Against The Machine does a better job and is more believable) and on a more basic human level as a love story. Changez is a pakistani man with western yearnings and trappings, educated at Princeton, and employed by a top american valuation firm when 9/11 occurs. Th...moreI loved Moth Smoke but Hamid falls woefully short of the poetry and inventiveness of his first novel in this hackneyed, boring and utterly forgettable novelette that fails both as a polemical rant against american foreign policy (Rage Against The Machine does a better job and is more believable) and on a more basic human level as a love story. Changez is a pakistani man with western yearnings and trappings, educated at Princeton, and employed by a top american valuation firm when 9/11 occurs. The events immediately following 9/11 coupled with his doomed relationship with a depressive and suicidal american girl (oh, the humanity!) spark a crisis of faith in the system he is a part of and in the way American foreign policy runs roughshod over the rest of the world (Boo-fuckin-hoo, cry me a river, etc etc) causing him to give up his western life style, sport a beard in protest regardless of the "looks" he might get walking down the streets of manhattan, and, later on to become a professor in a Pakistani university spewing prosaic anti-american rhetoric. In other words a TRUE revolutionary.

The interests of Hamid's much denounced muslim nation (he identifies with Afghanistan as much as he does with Pakistan) would be much better served had he produced a more self critical novel that would cause the average pakistani or generic third world muslim to introspect and self reflect about why they are such non-entities on the world stage (other than BLAME AMERICA FIRST) and perhaps suggest some way they might be able to pull themselves up by the bootstrap and get out from under the heel of the IMF, the World Bank and the instruments of America's considerable military might. This novel perfectly symbolizes the disease the muslim world suffers from; it's symptoms are apparent in the mindless violence/terrorism we see ever so often erupting from these cultural backwaters but its root cause lies in denial, lack of introspection and refusal to take responsibility for "our" condition actions.

In the end Changez has only himself to blame for his downfall, just like the muslims he identifies with.

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Jun 24, 2010

Emir rated it

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Consider yourself in Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan; you’re a foreigner in a country you barely know the history of and vaguely associate with anti-American sentiments and, perhaps, terrorism. Say, you wanted to taste the local food and drinks and so, wandering around the hotel you’re staying in, you survey the establishments where you can have the gastronomic experience while observing and absorbing the foreignness around you. Just as you are doing this, say, someone, obviously a n...moreConsider yourself in Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan; you’re a foreigner in a country you barely know the history of and vaguely associate with anti-American sentiments and, perhaps, terrorism. Say, you wanted to taste the local food and drinks and so, wandering around the hotel you’re staying in, you survey the establishments where you can have the gastronomic experience while observing and absorbing the foreignness around you. Just as you are doing this, say, someone, obviously a native, approaches you and offers help—speaking in perfect English! Good dress, good manners, and elequent English—how could you refuse his offer to guide you in choosing the perfect café and pass some time with this gentleman?

Mohsin Hamid transports you to Pakistan in The Reluctant Fundamentalist: you are the foreigner, and his character, Changez, an intelligent, Princeton-educated young man, speaks to you about his country, his experiences with America, his work with a valuation firm Underwood Samson, his love for an American girl named Erica, his views, his family, his life, and many other things that in an ordinary day and in the mouth of another man would have probably bored or irritated you. But Changez is no ordinary. He speaks with compelling honesty, baring his soul to you, a stranger. In the course of his talk, he puts forth keen observations about America (Philippines figures, too, at some point) and American policy; he dwells on how the September 11 attack on the Twin Towers aroused in him some emotions that were buried for the early part of his stay in America and how the American reaction to the attack is affecting the world. You are forced to listen and stay on your seat. His is a story worth listening to, and truth, if you listen closely, rings in his words.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a passionate book about you and the world around you. It’s not just about Changez or Pakistan or America, it is also about us all, as citizens of the world, as individuals.

"...it is not always possible to restore one's boundaries after they have been blurred and made permeable by a relationship: try as we might, we cannot reconstitute ourselves as the autonomous beings we previously imagined ourselves to be. Something of us is now outside, something of the outside is now within us."

Those words may apply to our personal relationships, like Changez’s to Erica. Those words may apply to nations, too, and how nations and governments affect one another.

(less)

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Feb 10, 2010

DoctorM rated it

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Shelves: summer-year-nine-list, dar-al-islam, out-in-the-colonies

An eerie, quietly powerful story. The structure is simple enough--- a monologue. A cafe in Lahore, and a young Pakistani is explaining to a silent American how he came to be an enemy of America. There's menace there--- something is about to happen, and soon. You're not told why the American is there, or what he does, or quite why young Changez is telling him these things. But there it is. This voice--- educated, articulate, tinged with hostility and faux-bonhomie and self-pity ---speaking into t...moreAn eerie, quietly powerful story. The structure is simple enough--- a monologue. A cafe in Lahore, and a young Pakistani is explaining to a silent American how he came to be an enemy of America. There's menace there--- something is about to happen, and soon. You're not told why the American is there, or what he does, or quite why young Changez is telling him these things. But there it is. This voice--- educated, articulate, tinged with hostility and faux-bonhomie and self-pity ---speaking into the dusk, ordering more tea, and...waiting.

There are reviewers at GoodReads who just didn't get the narrator, who just disliked him out of hand. After all, they said--- full scholarship to Princeton, near-six-figure Wall Street job at 22, beautiful American girlfriend: how dare he dislike America? I just kept reading and thinking about Dostoyevsky's "Devils" or Conrad's "Under Western Eyes". Changez would be...exactly...the sort to end up a terrorist of some kind. From a family with old name and status but no money. Educated someplace where you're almost never aware of being different, where suddenly money is an issue, where status and formalized deference don't soften the edges of not having money. A job with travel to places where you're aware of being American in the eyes of locals, but being a mere foreigner to American customs officials. Being smitten with a beautiful, gentle Upper East Side girl who slips away from you. Changez turns on the TV in a Manila hotel suite and sees the Towers burning on 11 September 2001 and finds himself suddenly, unexpectedly...smiling. However not? You can see Changez being as surprised as any of his American employers and friends at just how much resentment is there. Just the sort of person who could be recruited, who'd find himself seeking out places where he could open up his anger.

There's no grand political justification here, no sudden acceptance of Islam or jihad. Changez is secular, and his disdain for Americans isn't religious as much it is based on tribe and class and a sense of falling between identities. Mohsin Hamid gives his narrator a disturbing and quiet sense of slowly growing bitterness and isolation, as well as a slowly growing desperation about finding an identity. I am a Kurtz, he tells his nameless American listener, waiting for my Marlowe.

"The Reluctant Fundamentalist" is an unexpected find, and a story with a whole cast of ghosts and ideas happening just behind the main narrative. Very much worth reading, and a book where you'll be uncovering layers in Changez's monologue for a long time.
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Jul 18, 2008

Daniel rated it

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A few decades ago, before publishers felt the need to justify the eight dollar price tags of mass market paperbacks with page counts of 400 or more, a thriller novel could be as tightly plotted as any Hitchcock masterpiece—and lean books like John LeCarre’s The Spy Who Came In From the Cold were both global bestsellers and geopolitical commentaries at least as astute as most now forgotten serious non-fiction studies of the Communist Threat. By bloating themselves with romantic subplots and chase...moreA few decades ago, before publishers felt the need to justify the eight dollar price tags of mass market paperbacks with page counts of 400 or more, a thriller novel could be as tightly plotted as any Hitchcock masterpiece—and lean books like John LeCarre’s The Spy Who Came In From the Cold were both global bestsellers and geopolitical commentaries at least as astute as most now forgotten serious non-fiction studies of the Communist Threat. By bloating themselves with romantic subplots and chase scenes, thrillers have lost much of their ability to thrill. Still, they sometimes find themselves ahead of the news. When Gorbachev and Reagan had warmed to one another, there was a brief period in which the United States seemed to have no significant foreign enemies. Serious scholars wrote about “the end of history,” and many joked that writers like LeCarre had been put out of business. Thriller writers, however, merely cast about for the next great threat. China was a top candidate for a time, but the Middle East quickly became the preferred source of villains.

When the 9/11 attacks occurred it was widely noted that Tom Clancy’s novel Debt of Honor included a passenger airliner being flown into the Capitol Building by a suicide pilot. (Not as noted: The pilot was not Muslim but Japanese.) The Turner Diaries also ended with a White Supremacist terrorist flying a plane into the White House, but that character was, of course, the hero of the novel. Still, the media image—provided by thriller novels as well as the movies made from or inspired by them—of the Islamic male as the author of spectacular mayhem was so widespread that not only did nearly everyone comment that the attacks seemed like something “out of a movie” but they had little doubt, before any evidence appeared, that Middle Eastern terrorists were responsible. This was not even something new. When the Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed the media immediately cast it as an act of Islamic terrorism. Even after Timothy McVeigh’s arrest and conviction, some had trouble letting this notion go—the theory that Sadaam Hussein was in collusion with McVeigh had currency amongst some in the White House who lobbied for the Iraq invasion of 2003. Indeed, when they were not in the news in connection with actual terrorist attacks, the only time most Americans heard or read about Middle Easterners was when they were represented as terrorists in thrillers.

Now the Islamist terror and America’s reaction to it is the dominant story of our time, one needn’t even go to the supermarket for their fix of fictional representations. 24 provides a weekly supply of interrogation porn on television and respectable authors like John Updike and Martin Amis employ their powers to enter the minds of suicide bombers. But with the publication of The Reluctant Fundamentalist we get a literary perspective on current events that has been largely missing. The book’s cover design does not shout thriller. It looks, in fact, with its image of an unshaven Pakistani man’s face partially covered by strips of flag, like another of the many non-fictional memoirs that have appeared in the past few years, with subtitles such as My Two Years in Gitmo. And the fact that the author, Mohsin Hamid, was born in Pakistan and educated at Princeton and is writing about a character born in Pakistan and educated at Princeton, might lead one to suspect that this is, like many novels, a thinly veiled memoir. The word thriller does, however, appear on the front cover, in a blurb, and while this book doesn’t even crack the 200 page mark and no murdered art historians are to be found within, it is a thriller, in the same sense that Graham Greene’s entertainments were thrillers.

Hamid’s protagonist, Changez, speaks directly, and cordially, to “you,” an American (who may or may not be a tourist) at a café in Lahore. He assures you that he loves America and proceeds to tell his story. A lucrative position at a slightly cultlike New York valuations firm raises him out of his family’s financial ruin and begins to give him an American outlook on the world. He starts dating a beautiful writer, Emily, and easily blends in to multicultural Manhattan. But when the 9/11 attacks occur, Changez feels a sense of pleasure, not he says at the loss of life, but at the idea of America brought to her knees. After all, he asks you, “Do you feel no joy at the video clips—so prevalent these days—of American munitions laying waste to the structures of your enemies?”

At this point, Changez’s assimilation begins to come undone. On business trips, he is subjected to intense scrutiny at airports while his colleagues travel on without him. On the streets he is glared at by drivers. Pedestrians mutter insults. Emily stops returning his calls and at first he believes it has something to do with the attacks and his ethnicity. The actual reason, he learns, is perhaps more troubling—Emily is sinking into clinical depression and obsessing over a previous boyfriend who died of cancer. She tells him, “I kind of miss home too. Except that my home was a guy with long skinny fingers.” He tries to hold on to his love for America and for Emily, but neither seem to want him anymore.

On a trip to visit his family in Pakistan, at a time, late 2002, when a war with India seemed inevitable, Changez’s perspective changes. He acquires the sense—perhaps the same one Americans felt briefly after 9/11—of being a citizen of a homeland under siege and starts to think about what responsibilities such citizenship entails. When he returns to his job he wears a two week old beard that evokes images of terrorists in the minds of his co-workers. A friend advises him to shave, telling him, “You need to be careful. This whole corporate collegiality veneer only goes so deep.”

As America, wrapped up in its 9/11 memorial and the run-up to the Iraq invasion, ignores Pakistan’s troubles (or, as he comes to believe, even encourages India’s aggression), and Emily vanishes, Changez acquires twin obsessions, personal and political, and begins making choices that eventually lead to the very conversation you are having with him in Lahore. I will not reveal the ending, but will say that it, unlike the artificially twist-heavy endings of most bestselling thrillers, is logical and genuine. The book doesn’t mean to merely shock, it sets out to create “a certain shared intimacy” with a character that events may have led you, as an American, to see as your enemy.

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Aug 30, 2008

Lorenzo rated it

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Shelves: 2008-readings, pakistani, aaa-my-library

So far a total disappointment.
What happened to the brilliant author of Moth Smoke?

This book with his narrator's monologue looks like an attempt to simplify both: literature and points of view.

Even irony seems put here and there without a logic.
And the effect of all these fake attempts to pretend the narrator is really having a conversation with the stereotype of an American businessman in Lahore is really disturbing.

I hope that Hamid is going to su...more

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Jun 17, 2008

Charles rated it

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The Reluctant Fundmentalist is a good read if a sad story of loss.However, for all the knowledge the author most surely has, he could perhaps shed more light on the internal motivation of his main charater and the root of his driving loyalties.

These are the most confuseing ideas for the western mind to grasp when thinking about the middle east: loyalty and motivation. Rather then use a long and seemingly eliteist westernized educated rambling to highlight these points that confuse mo...moreThe Reluctant Fundmentalist is a good read if a sad story of loss.However, for all the knowledge the author most surely has, he could perhaps shed more light on the internal motivation of his main charater and the root of his driving loyalties.

These are the most confuseing ideas for the western mind to grasp when thinking about the middle east: loyalty and motivation. Rather then use a long and seemingly eliteist westernized educated rambling to highlight these points that confuse most americans (including those of us with some hands on experiance of the region).

Rather it is as if our main charater simply tells all excpet that which we most crave hearing, surely Changez is smart enough to know how his ecounter with the jumpy clean-cut american will end. It is all foreshadowed from the very first chapter. Thus why not expound on his loyalties and motivations?

We learn many details of his four years spent in America (which Changez comes to see as a sort of treachery of his roots, I for one would like to know why, but Hamid doesn't seem to think it needs explaining). This left me with an empty feeling when I finished the book.

Rather then explain the "reluctance" we come to see a wonderful story of an overworked twenty something with a bright future who simply breaks down in the face of real life, something that perhaps more often then not in competetive enviroments. This part of the story is well written and engrossing on its own, yet at every turn when a shadow or hit could perhaps be offered; enticing more thought of the deeper and inherently more conflicted tides within Changez's charater, we are left wanting. We know there is a battle raging inside of Changez we can see it in his actions yet we are only offered the description of his actions (he grows a beard, he becomes sloppy at work, his anger grows and he has a hair trigger.) Surely it would be nice to know what is running though Changez's head as he goes though this metamorphsis. That would be the implied question inside of the title, yet again we are left wanting at the most lucid of moments

To this end I found this book frustrating, I am deeply confused myself as to how those in middle eastern counties identify with their religions, their tribes, and their states (I am a service member, currently serving) and I am aware that it is diffrent in every country. And given my honestly rather limited experiance I feel that The Reluctant Fundamentalist falls short of explaining this concept to the western mind. (when I picked the book up at the PX I was looking for that very answer, I was left with more of the typical confusion when I had finished.

I though the reading, looked for reasons why Changez "was the reluctant fundmentalist." Rather then find this instead I found that it seemed like an exceptionally talented and bright if somewhat confused twenty-two year old having a very traditional crisis upon entering a highly charged working world. I was left with no other reason that he "became fundmetalist" other then the fact he was Pakistani. It rang empty to my wanting ears and perhaps more dangerously it promotes a sterotyped view of those from the entire middle eastern region (supplied perhaps by the "Ugly Americans" reading audience, who don't know enough about the region or its people as it were to think in anything more then superficial sterotype). Indeed it was my motivation for purchaseing the book, I wished to get a more personalized down to earth perspective on the entire conflict, I was dissapointed. What values derived from Pakistan made Changez question his loyalty to his job?

Perhaps during the shock of nine-eleven when the book is set such unexplained actions make sense and indeed I do not question the books feelings. But the book stands to offer so much more: more about deeper motivations and explinations behind those feelings, more about tradional values colliding with the west. I found the work not fully explaining its title. Where was that internal struggle that made Changez "reluctant"? It seems Changez was rather swayed by traditional words of wisdom, but they were from a man in South America, what paralell does this draw to his own culture? I was agian confused and left without explination. Thus The Reluctant fundamentalist rather then offering me a clear glimpse into the hatred that seems to directed towards my country I was left just as confused as when I started to read it in the first place. I suppose I expected too much from the book, for it is still an excellent story. (less)

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May 08, 2008

JennS rated it

I think I would have enjoyed this book more had I not found Changez's character to be so predictable and hypocritical. He says "I myself was a form of indentured servant whose right to remain (in the US) was dependent upon the continued benevolence of my employer." Lets see, he gets a free Ivy League education, which is annoying in itself as there are so many American students who fall short of his standards, and the few foreigners (at a US university) seem to be the only students ap...more

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Apr 15, 2009

mp rated it

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Shelves: reviewed

'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' is an attempt to give one an idea about what drives youngsters to radical Islamic fundamentalism - a term which has close connotations with political fanaticism, terrorism and anti-americanism. However, Mohsin Hamid has failed miserably. Not only the book was unable to generate a feeling of sympathy and understanding towards the protagonist Changez, it left me pretty convinced that Changez's fundamentalist beliefs are completely un-justified and that he is a hypocr...more'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' is an attempt to give one an idea about what drives youngsters to radical Islamic fundamentalism - a term which has close connotations with political fanaticism, terrorism and anti-americanism. However, Mohsin Hamid has failed miserably. Not only the book was unable to generate a feeling of sympathy and understanding towards the protagonist Changez, it left me pretty convinced that Changez's fundamentalist beliefs are completely un-justified and that he is a hypocrite, prejudiced and a despicable human being.

*** Spoilers ***

Changez, the protagonist, is a young man from Pakistan. Having freshly graduated from Princeton, Changez bags a high-paying job at an American firm. He shows signs of brilliance at work and soon earns the respect of his colleagues. It is also at this high point of his life, that he falls in love with Erica. However, things don't stay that way for long. 9/11 proves to be a turning point in his life. After 9/11 his American Dream falls apart and he abandons America to return to Pakistan. It is also around this time that any hopes of his striking up a relationship with Erica practically die.

Unfortunately the story fails in addressing the real issue. No answers are offered to justify Changez's transition from a successful young man to an anti-American revolutionary. More than half the narrative is devoted to his love story which has nothing fresh to offer and is very shallow. On one hand, Changez tries almost too hard to make us believe that he really cares for Erica. On the other, he pretends to be Erica's dead ex-boyfriend, to make her sleep with him. So digusting!
The symbolism - Changez's love-affair with (am)Erica - is way too straight and unsubtle to have any real impact.

The moment where I hated Changez the most was when he watches the news of 9/11 attacks on television and he smiles.
"I stared as one—and then the other—of the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center collapsed. And then I smiled. Yes, despicable as it may sound, my initial reaction was to be remarkably pleased… I was caught up in the symbolism of it all, the fact that someone had so visibly brought America to her knees."

Forgetting that this is the country that offered him an ivy-league education and a highly coveted job and more importantly, looking past the fact that a number of people died in the attacks, he is able to take pleasure in the misfortune of America. As if this doesn't speak volumes of his deeply rooted prejudice against America, the rest of the narrative tries to tell us how post-9/11 events changed his views about America and its role in world politics, thus cultivating in him a hatred and rage towards America. What events cause this change, we are never told. There is a constant mention of his inner struggle, but we never get a glimpse of his emotions. I am gonna need more convincing than Changez thinks that his colleagues are hostile towards him because he is sporting a beard, a symbol of him belonging to Pakistan. Dude! how about it is a professional place and you are expected to look presentable when dealing with business clients? He can't blame America if the American girl he is chasing doesn't love him back or if he loses interest in his job forcing his American employers to fire him.

To narrate this dull and uninteresting story, Mohsin Hamid has used a writing style where the narrator doesn't talk directly to the reader. Changez is telling this story to an American stranger visiting Pakistan, but we hear only one side of the conversation. The technique gets boring and awkward and repeatedly uses sentences like "You are not hungry and you desire me to continue, you say?" . The language, for the most part, is more befitting for a written form rather than a conversation.
One idea I liked was how we are given hints about developing tension between the narrator and the American he is talking to as the conversation goes on. The books has an ambiguous ending leaving us with a sense of danger lurking around the corner. The idea isn't that well executed though. Neither of the possible endings sound too plausible, considering how real-wordly this book is supposed to be.(less)

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Sep 29, 2008

Will rated it

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Shelves: terrorism

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is a lovely, short, very easy-to-read post 9/11 book.

The structure of this is tale is Changez telling his personal story to a burly American visitor (probably a spook of some sort) to his country, in his function as a guide to Pakistan. The tone was very reminiscent of Rudyard Kipling, at least as far as I recall from my reading of Kipling many years back. Think The Man Who Would Be King. This makes sense given the subject matter of the book, colonialism versus the third world....moreThis is a lovely, short, very easy-to-read post 9/11 book.

The structure of this is tale is Changez telling his personal story to a burly American visitor (probably a spook of some sort) to his country, in his function as a guide to Pakistan. The tone was very reminiscent of Rudyard Kipling, at least as far as I recall from my reading of Kipling many years back. Think The Man Who Would Be King. This makes sense given the subject matter of the book, colonialism versus the third world.

Changez, born to fading gentry in Pakistan, has attended Princeton on scholarship, gotten a lucrative job with a top tier financial company, and is in love with beautiful, blond upper-class Yank. Life is good. But when 9/11 happens he discovers that he feels some satisfaction in the great giant being taken down a notch. In the newly paranoid USA, his background marks him as a threat to many and life changes.

Essentially what we have here is a foreigner (Changez) falling in love with America (get it? amERICA), but his amERICA is too damaged by the premature loss of her boyfriend to cancer at age 22 (Read Vietnam or whatever other fall one might choose) to cope. The result of this is that amERICA suffers from extreme nostalgia and becomes incapable of truly embracing Changez (subtle).

Erica’s father irks him with presumptions about corruption in Pakistan. He sees a “typically American undercurrent of condescension” (p 55) American indifference to third world concerns is noted repeatedly here. It is no secret that the USA is notoriously unempathetic to the concerns of others since the Marshall Plan.

Fundamentals here are the tools taught him in his finance career (efficiency). Fundamentals are implied for other things, knowing who you are, what your place is in the world. There are, surprisingly, no overt connections made to religious fundamentalism. Presumably one of the author’s points is that the values held high in the west (efficiency uber alles) are just as unfeeling and extreme as those of the religious nuts.

I did not take this as a personal tale. It is a metaphoric one. I mean the main character has but a single name, Changez. For that alone, how could the book be anything other than metaphorical? So I was not troubled by the contradictions in the character. For example, Changez feels an affinity with the jeepney driver in the Philippines, yet the choices he makes are all to strive within the western world. He manages to get a scholarship to attend Princeton, but feels it necessary to hide his relative poverty. What? Are there no other scholarship kids at Princeton? He is elitist in his orientation, wanting to hang with the rich kids, wanting to work for the heavy hitter financial company, even after it becomes clear to him that the work will cost people their livelihoods, wanting to be with the crazy girl when it is clear that she is over the edge. It is not America that rejects the foreigner here, but the foreigner who rejects America. So it is not a personal tale. It is a metaphoric one. It would have been better had the walking symbols here been made more reasonable, had their desires and impulses been a little more grounded in flesh and blood reality.

You’re not a better man than I am, Gunga Din.
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Dec 03, 2008

Beth F. rated it

Shelves: 2008, 9-11-reference, thriller, 1001-books

Great title. Amazing start. Abrupt and uncomfortable ending. I could not put this book down.

I seldom pick up a book without first perusing the reviews of others to see if it will be worth my while and this book was no exception. So I will never know whether I’d have spotted the allegorical content of this book on my own had I not been tipped off to it thanks to some internet searches or not. It’s pretty blatant so I like to think I’d have caught on in my own time but I’m long do...more

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Jul 02, 2008

Ramberto rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Ramberto by: Shawn Sargent

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. …[We] were not always burdened by debt, dependent on foreign aid and handouts; in the stories we tell of ourselves we were not crazed and destitute radicals…but rather saints and poets and -yes- conquering kings. We built the Royal Mosque and the Shalimar Gardens in this city, and we built the Lahore Fort with its mighty walls and wide ramp for our battle-elephants. And we did these things when your country was still a collection of thirteen small colonies, gnawing away at the edge of a contin...more…[We] were not always burdened by debt, dependent on foreign aid and handouts; in the stories we tell of ourselves we were not crazed and destitute radicals…but rather saints and poets and -yes- conquering kings. We built the Royal Mosque and the Shalimar Gardens in this city, and we built the Lahore Fort with its mighty walls and wide ramp for our battle-elephants. And we did these things when your country was still a collection of thirteen small colonies, gnawing away at the edge of a continent.

This small quote, made near the middle of the book, after Changez has established himself in America as a successful scholar with a bright future, hints at the pride, embarrassment and helpless rage he feels towards his own culture when compared to the dominant west. Changez is not a radical Islamist seeking to usher in a new world order based religious law. Instead he is a lonely patriot pushing back against his country’s stagnation and isolation, doing his part to raise its small stature against a power that he doesn’t see as evil, just not as benevolent.

Tribe becomes an important theme in this story; those cultural obligations you feel to your home, family and nation that give a person a sense of belonging. Changez easily becomes a member of the New York tribe (…I was in four and a half years, never an American; I was immediately a New Yorker), and falls in love with woman that gives him access to the pinnacle of American culture. But against the back drop of the 9-11 attacks he finds it increasingly difficult to give up his Pakistani heritage in favor of an American one, he in essence has to choose his tribe.

This short but enjoyable book offers a window into the mind of an educated, secular Pakistani, who is not a radical fundamentalist. In enjoyed the book for its perspective; without being preachy, it wonders if we are capable of relating to a different culture with respect for its history and its difference, with respect for its tribal connections.
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Nov 10, 2007

Khaya rated it

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Shelves: thought-provoking, southasia, culturalidentity

I liked the fact that this book managed to be both a quick and easy read and very thought-provoking at the same time. It was an interesting look at biculturalism, specifically east-west ambivalence. It made me think about some of my America issues, as an Orthodox Jew -- I never realized how American I was until I moved to Israel, and how much pride I take in qualities I have that were clearly influenced by my having grown up in America. At the same time, when I lived in America I always felt ...moreI liked the fact that this book managed to be both a quick and easy read and very thought-provoking at the same time. It was an interesting look at biculturalism, specifically east-west ambivalence. It made me think about some of my America issues, as an Orthodox Jew -- I never realized how American I was until I moved to Israel, and how much pride I take in qualities I have that were clearly influenced by my having grown up in America. At the same time, when I lived in America I always felt bicultural because my Orthodox observance and separatism made me feel like I couldn't fully participate in the mainstream culture. I think that that's why I often enjoy literature about American immigrants, first-generation Americans, bicultural characters, etc. (e.g., "The Namesake").

One of the things that bothered me, though, was my difficulty comprehending the main character's reaction to 9/11. Yes, I could see that he disliked American arrogance and the paternalistic attitude/bullying that often manifests in America's involvement in eastern countries. However, here was a guy who had taken advantage of the best America has to offer and was enjoying it -- how could he feel good about an attack on America? Did he feel no gratitude for what America gave him, things he clearly could not enjoy in his own country? I couldn't tell whether this was a flaw in the character or a flaw in the book, but I tend to think it was the latter.

I was also impressed with the writing. There are passages I really wanted to quote; unfortunately, I read this over Shabbos and no longer remember which passages they were.

a friggin sherpa!

the guy writes like a friggin sherpa! from the first you fall into reading the book like a dot! i mean the first sentence --excuse me sir but may i be of assistance? ah, i see i have alarmed you. -- who talks like that but a dot?! i felt like i was talking to dell customer service! and it goes that way for the whole book! lyrical writing my XXXXX! sure its lyrical, if you read it in dot! heres a guy who was shlepping yaks all over the himalayas and ends up at princeton!
you can take the guy out of the cave, but you cant take the cave out of the guy.
a friggin sherpa.

/end husband's rant/(less)

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Aug 15, 2008

Zach rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2008-books, b-club-fiction

Overall this book is only soo disappointing in that the first half showed such promise and the second half failed to live up to it.

First half of this book was excellent. The author starts with an interesting device, the narrator, a Pakistani educated in the US now living in Pakistan meeting with some unnamed American--possibly from the government. The stroy is told as a one sided conversation with the narrator occasionally responding to the American (someone else described it as h...moreOverall this book is only soo disappointing in that the first half showed such promise and the second half failed to live up to it.

First half of this book was excellent. The author starts with an interesting device, the narrator, a Pakistani educated in the US now living in Pakistan meeting with some unnamed American--possibly from the government. The stroy is told as a one sided conversation with the narrator occasionally responding to the American (someone else described it as hearing one side of a phone call--which is a pretty accurate description). The narrator is clearly a well thought out character and the story has a subtle, but definet tension--the reader knows something happened to turn the narrator from a US educated/NYC consultant into whatever he is now (we do not know, nor do we know why he is meeting with the American)--The story appears to build as the narrator describes his rise in an NYC consulting firm as well as burgeoning relationship with a wealthy American--The action rises toward of course the inevitbale 9/11---

and then the book completely disappoints. The narrator seemed so well thoughtout that I thought I was in for a really well developed, psychological biography that shows how a Muslim who wanted to enter into the US society, decides to abandon it--How does he react to 9/11? How does he reconcile his own life/goals with a system that he grows to hate? --NOTHING!! We are told he was amused by the attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon--this might seem plausible from someone who feels they have suffered because of the US and grown to hate it, but it makes no sense why someone who is working on Wall St. would have this initial reaction...Other than one or two incidents of racial harassment, which appear to be just thrown in, there is no description as to how the narrator continues to interact with his co-workers and his American friends in response to the attacks. The narrator has some comments about global politics, the US role, especially in South Asia, but these sections seem again very quick, almost after thoughts, compared to the more complex/nuance that was given to the novel's earlier descriptions of characters. The second half of the novel appears to be devoted mostly to a love story, which is very distracting from the rest of the novel because the narrator in the love story could have been a completely different character. He is in love with a wealthy American (white) woman, who was born into the highest level of privilege--YET the author does not address how this radical feels about her privilege or how he might have a future with her--would he give up Islam? expect her to convert? --not addressed.

Overall this book is only soo disappointing in that the first half showed such promise and the second half failed to live up to it. (less)

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May 08, 2008

Bibliomantic rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: more-or-less-or-very-literary

Although the ‘ending’ tends to dominate one’s thoughts of the book, it is only one if its many strengths, while simultaneously being its central weakness. I count the endearing narrative of a smart and emotionally mature young man's tale of success followed by failure among the book’s other strengths. That, to me, was something rooted in the central character, in the very way he came across. Other aspects of the novel were, I felt, forced on the reader. For example, the effect of the title itsel...more

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Feb 16, 2008

Gunjan rated it

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Fear is so unique an emotion that it has the ability to create a religious zealot, an impassioned soldier, and a dutiful citizen all at once. Quite naturally, we can say that the universal outcome of fear appears to be a sharpened sense of nationalism. From this, we extract feelings of pride, of devotion, and motivation to defend our countries with any means necessary.

Mohsin Hamid gives us a simple and elegant lesson of how fear evolves, in the ever-popular and persistent struggle ...moreFear is so unique an emotion that it has the ability to create a religious zealot, an impassioned soldier, and a dutiful citizen all at once. Quite naturally, we can say that the universal outcome of fear appears to be a sharpened sense of nationalism. From this, we extract feelings of pride, of devotion, and motivation to defend our countries with any means necessary.

Mohsin Hamid gives us a simple and elegant lesson of how fear evolves, in the ever-popular and persistent struggle between east and west, as both sides attempt to educate the other in precisely the right way to live.

This short, tense novel is also on occasion, blackly humorous. In this passage we see our Pakistani narrator as he “handles” a beggar in his homeland while in conversation with a nameless American man.

“But why do you recoil?” Ah yes, this beggar is a particularly unfortunate fellow. One can only wonder what series of accidents could have left him so thoroughly disfigured. He draws close to you because you are a foreigner. Will you give him something? No? Very wise; one ought not to encourage beggars, and yes, you are right, it is far better to donate to charities that address the causes of poverty rather than to him, a creature who is merely its symptom. What am I doing? I am handing him a few rupees-misguidedly of course, and out of habit. There, he offers us his prayers for our well-being; now he is on his way.” –p.40

I don’t pretend to completely understand Hamid’s protagonist, Changez, because of the Indian-ness of my name or the birthplace of my parents. I do however, understand the frustration felt at watching, at what Hamid describes is the, “sports-event-like coverage given to the mismatch between the American bombers with their twenty-first century weaponry and the ill-equipped and ill-fed opposition, and also knowing that India is among the countries in the East being manipulated as the world slowly considers the consequences of our respective nationalistic desires.

Nearing the end, our author reminds us, “ it seems an obvious thing to say, but you should not imagine that we Pakistanis are all potential terrorists, just as we should not imagine that you Americans are all under-cover assassins.” –p. 183
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Jan 14, 2011

notgettingenough rated it

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Shelves: modern-lit

Update: according to The Guardian Erica is an allegory for America. Why can't Erica just be Erica? I don't understand. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/mar...

--------------------

Erica is a girl who lives in her head because it is the only place she can be with the person she loves. Of course, there is a price to pay for this.

Unfortunately, this is not the point of this otherwise ordinary book.

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Jun 07, 2011

Brynan rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: No one

Shelves: horrific

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid has recently received incredible critical acclaim and is being considered for addition to the AP College Board's list of classics.

Here is why this book should NOT be on that list:

IT SUCKS!

But unlike this book, I'm not that shallow. I've got a few reasons why I believe this book isn't even close to the ranks of Frankenstein or Light in August.

Probably the most intriguing part of this book is the subject, ...moreThe Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid has recently received incredible critical acclaim and is being considered for addition to the AP College Board's list of classics.

Here is why this book should NOT be on that list:

IT SUCKS!

But unlike this book, I'm not that shallow. I've got a few reasons why I believe this book isn't even close to the ranks of Frankenstein or Light in August.

Probably the most intriguing part of this book is the subject, as books on Muslims and the Middle East are quite rare. Beyond that, however, there are few redeeming qualities about this book. It is very short--under 200 pages with very large font--and while short books can be very deep, this one is not. There's love, major conflicts, etc., but frankly every part is underdeveloped and leaves me unsatisfied. In fact, the romance in the novel seems entirely unnecessary to the main plot of the Changez's change and growing hatred for America after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Erica is supposed to symbolize America (AmErica), but then why does Hamid send her to a mental institution? What is he trying to say there? The symbolism really doesn't extend beyond the worldplay because Changez still loves Erica even when he hates America and returns to Pakistan, and 2.) the physical separation between Changez and Erica doesn't match the emotional separation between Changez and America. The love also seemed so extreme that it felt superficial and almost like infatuation more than anything else. To write a classic, Hamid needs to make more of a connection beyond wordplay.

In addition, I was unable to connect with the main character or feel any emotions. I just listened to some incredibly successful Muslim immigrant brag about his successes and towards the end of the book *SPOILERS* gang up with a group of dudes to attack me for being American.

The structure is also an underdeveloped part of this book. The book is written as an interview where the main character Changez speaks directly to the reader. Yes, this is a new structure never seen before, but it didn't really work for me. The book just left me angry and unable to respond as Changez brags in his overly proper voice about how he has graduated from Princeton and is pwning all of his colleagues because he's so amazing. The emotions of the character listening to Changez are also preset, which could work if Hamid effectively moves the reader to feel his preset emotions, but that doesn't really happen. Plus, half the things he says aren't even found in a normal interview, such as, "What? My voice is rising? You are right; I tend to become sentimental when I think of that city," (33). Do interviewers, or anyone in any conversation for that matter, ever point out how the other person's "voice is rising" in real life? The "interview" is also often interrupted by some present event that serves no purpose other than to disrupt the story. I don't really care about those females in the corner or that man passing by. The structure is poorly executed and does not add to the plot or Hamid's purposes in anyway.

And what does the title have to do with anything? The guy doesn't even become a fundamentalist, nor is he "reluctant" to start disliking America. If there's some deep symbolism or whatever going on, I'm not finding it.

To tell you the truth, I feel this book has received critical acclaim for it's touchy and controversial topic and its bold structure that is simply something new. But when you step back to see what this book and its structure actually accomplish, you'll find a book that lacks the beautiful language or clever use of literary devices found in real classics.(less)

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Apr 06, 2009

James rated it

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Shelves: important, social-critique

This brief first-person narrative breaks so many conventions of the novel that you might toss it out just a few pages in. Have patience, I pray you, for you will discover that the odd narrative pace and familiar-yet-tense prose are masterful devices used to create a completely unique tale that ends with a bang.

The story is recounted as if it is a chance encounter between a suspicious-looking American abroad and a young Pakistani in his native land. Yet as the Pakistani narrator revea...more

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Jan 28, 2009

Lori rated it

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Shelves: fiction

I sat down with this book today and read it from cover to cover in less than 5 hours.

Written in a one sided conversationalist tone, Hamid pulls us into the story of Changez and grabs our attention from the first sentence.
A 21 year old Princeton graduate, lands his first, major job with a very important NY based employer. With 9-11 as the backdrop, we follow him as he turns from a confident, aggressive young man, to one that is questioning the world around him, and suffering f...more

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Feb 09, 2009

Donna rated it

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quick read. good pace. half way through and just started two hours ago.

update: Next day, another hour's read (almost done).
------
The writing is not particularly subtle or literary, but, I like that frankness. He has a story and he tells it and you leave curious and transformed:

The irony and poetic sublety of the title of the book, however, followed me around work for the day. The fundamentals are actually the steps and rules American corporate workers mu...more

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Jan 31, 2010

S. rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: booker-noms, 1001-list, read-in-2010

I think the main strength of this book is how it throws your feelings and opinions in your face and leaves you uncomfortable. I was digging the book until about halfway through, and then it began to seem tedious in a number of ways.

One factor is what I felt was a weak use of the monologue technique – not believable, not directed at the reader but at a silent powerless listener (dressed up to seem the devil). If the silent American really is a CIA or other government agent, he’d never...moreI think the main strength of this book is how it throws your feelings and opinions in your face and leaves you uncomfortable. I was digging the book until about halfway through, and then it began to seem tedious in a number of ways.

One factor is what I felt was a weak use of the monologue technique – not believable, not directed at the reader but at a silent powerless listener (dressed up to seem the devil). If the silent American really is a CIA or other government agent, he’d never get himself into such a situation. From page one, it does not seem harmless.

Another factor is the emphasis put on what for me was a pretty thin love affair with Erica, the stand-in for amErica, who is paralyzed in love with a dead man, Chris (Columbus!?). I could go on and on about this, but I’ll leave it. If you read the book, you can decide.

Another was the not-so-skillful use of literary device. Here, for example, is a metaphor that made me groan (p. 165): ‘One evening I was walking with Erica through Union Square and we saw a firefly. “Look!” she said, amazed. “It’s trying to compete with the buildings.” Indeed it was: a tiny greenish glow visible up close but overwhelmed by the city’s luminance when viewed from even a modest distance. We watched as it crossed 14th street, headed south.’

Did you get that? The little firefly overwhelmed by the pyrotechnics of America? In case you didn’t, the narrator later compares himself to a firefly just to make it clear.

I also disliked the “telling” rather than showing in the book, although I’m often forgiving about “telling.” Page 156: “I reflected that I had always resented the manner in which America conducted itself in the world; your country’s constant interference in the affairs of others was insufferable. Vietnam, Korea, the straits of Taiwan, the Middle East, and now Afghanistan.”

And the last factor, predictably, was my growing distaste for the narrator, Changez. The author wants the reader to understand him, and that works to an extent, until of course the narrator becomes threatening, at which point we (I) abandon him and join the enemy camp (America). On reflection I assume the author doesn't expect the reader's sympathy to go too far, but probably doesn't think Changez is any more deserving of being condemned than America. Ouch.

I was appalled after 9/11 when I heard and saw on tv the groups of people actually celebrating in the streets, in Egypt, for example. Still, it seems natural in the book that Changez smiles when he sees the towers go down on tv. The Schadenfreude! But as his beard grows so does my lack of sympathy. Of course a just world should be more important than having it all, but that Changez comes to consider himself “a form of indentured servant” didn’t ring the bell for me, and my patience with the character, already grown thin, snapped. Is this what was supposed to happen? Or are there readers somewhere cheering Changez on?

And Changez doesn’t hate Americans, but America. The two main American characters – Erica and Jim – were unprejudiced people, open and accepting of Changez even in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when anyone who looked middle-eastern was collecting sideways glances.

So what am I supposed to take away from that, that terrorists are ideologues? I think I knew that. Maybe the polemic inherent in the allegorical is making me feel straight-jacketed.
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Sep 03, 2008

Kami rated it

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Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 30, 2007

Reagan Ramsey rated it

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i don't know if everyone would love this book, but i loved it. i thought it was such an interesting character study; you were drawn along this personal evolution from respectful and studious 1st generation american to political vigilante. i like the way hamid made the transition so subtlely; you almost didn't blame the guy for becoming the killer he ultimately became. essentially, the main character starts out as an upstanding young Pakistani, who becomes one of the elite members of a highly ...more

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Nov 19, 2007

Lee rated it

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Recommends it for: Everyone I know

I had this book from the local library, although I had already ordered it from my bookseller after reading reviews.

I feel it an amazingly adept work of both political commentary and literature. Not a word of it is wasted, in my opinion, and many of the words I found myself reading several times to savour their insight.

After I read it the first time, I recommended it to my reading friends, and then sat down and did something I have not done before: I did an immediate r...more

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Sep 12, 2007

Jason Pettus rated it

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(The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

So, continuing CCLaP's look this month at the 2007 Booker Prize nominees (both short-list and long), today's review is of the blackly humorous The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, which along with Darkmans by Nicola Barker and On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan are definitely the three most commercially popular titles of all the ones chosen this year by the Booker nom...more(The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

So, continuing CCLaP's look this month at the 2007 Booker Prize nominees (both short-list and long), today's review is of the blackly humorous The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, which along with Darkmans by Nicola Barker and On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan are definitely the three most commercially popular titles of all the ones chosen this year by the Booker nominating committee. And to tell you the truth, I have a feeling that today's review is going to be shorter than normal, because of the book itself being shorter than most that I review here -- it's barely 180 pages long, with a whole lot of space between each line of text, and with the story itself being more of a "bildungsroman" (that is, a detailed character study) than a traditional three-act plot-based novel.

The central character being examined, in fact, is a young Pakistani male named Changez, who is using a dinner with an American at a cafe in his native Lahore as an excuse to tell us all about his own experiences in America, in the years both immediately preceding and immediately following September 11th. And in fact this is pretty much the entire reason this wisp of a novel even exists, as a character study of Changez himself, and to show how ultimately he doesn't want anything different than any other twentysomething middle-class yearner out there in the world -- a good job, a little savings, a loving spouse, lots of crap to impress the neighbors. A quiet, unabashed nerd while growing up in the Middle East, Changez ends up receiving a scholarship to attend Princeton; while there he becomes the exact overachiever that so many international students do at American universities; this leads him to an entry-level job at financial firm Underwood Sampson & Co., becoming the latest in a long line of employees whose job is to determine the economic value of the various businesses who hire them on for insurance and liquidation purposes.

And, you know, for the most part I just described...(less)

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Best first person POV ever	8	41	Sep 01, 2011 05:55pm
The Ending...	13	132	Jun 18, 2008 04:56am

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