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  <title><![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]></title>
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  <description><![CDATA[Mohsin Hamid's first novel, <em>Moth Smoke</em>, dealt with the confluence of personal and political   themes, and his second, <em>The Reluctant Fundamentalist</em>, revisits that territory in the   person of Changez, a young Pakistani.  Told in a single monologue, the narrative never   flags. Changez is by turns naive, sinister, unctuous, mildly threatening, overbearing,   insulting, angry, resentful, and sad. He tells his story to a nameless, mysterious American   who sits across from him at a Lahore cafe.  Educated at Princeton, employed by a first-rate   valuation firm, Changez was living the American dream, earning more money than he thought   possible, caught up in the New York social scene and in love with a beautiful, wealthy,   damaged girl.  The romance is negligible; Erica is emotionally unavailable, endlessly   grieving the death of her lifelong friend and boyfriend, Chris.  <p> Changez is in Manila on 9/11 and sees the towers come down on TV.  He tells the American,   &quot;...I <em>smiled</em>.  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...&quot; When he returns to  New York, there is a   palpable change in attitudes toward him, starting right at immigration.  His name and his   face render him suspect. <p>   Ongoing trouble between Pakistan and India urge Changez to return home for a visit, despite   his parents' advice to stay where he is. While there, he realizes that he has changed in a   way that shames him.  &quot;I was struck at first by how shabby our house appeared... I was   saddened to find it in such a state... This was where I came from... and it smacked of   lowliness.&quot; He exorcises that feeling and once again appreciates his home for its   &quot;unmistakable personality and idiosyncratic charm.&quot; While at home, he lets his beard grow.    Advised to shave it, even by his mother, he refuses.  It will be his line in the sand, his   statement about who he is.  His company sends him to Chile for another business valuation;   his mind filled with the troubles in Pakistan and the U.S. involvement with India that keeps   the pressure on.  His work and the money he earns have been overtaken by resentment of the   United States and all it stands for. <p> Hamid's prose is filled with insight, subtly delivered: &quot;I felt my age: an almost childlike   twenty-two, rather than that permanent middle-age that attaches itself to the man who lives   alone and supports himself by wearing a suit in a city not of his birth.&quot;  In telling of the   janissaries, Christian boys captured by Ottomans and trained to be soldiers in the Muslim   Army, his Chilean host tells him: &quot;The janissaries were always taken in childhood.  It would   have been far more difficult to devote themselves to their adopted empire, you see, if they   had memories they could not forget.&quot;  Changez cannot forget, and Hamid makes the reader   understand that--and all that follows. <em>--Valerie Ryan</em> Pakistani man telling his life story to a mysterious American stranger. It's a controversial   look at the dark side of the American Dream, exploring the aftermath of 9/11, international   unease, and the dangerous pull of nostalgia. </p></p></p>]]></description>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[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.<br/><br/>Lately, there has been a flowering of...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14252380">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[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...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24038317">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[Nine Reasons To Read This One:<br/><br/>Because it’s short, yet evocative: a relief at a time when authors needlessly pile on the pages.<br/><br/>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.<br/>...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3018074">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[Mohsin Hamid also wrote &quot;Moth Smoke,&quot; 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 h...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/948349">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Arsalan]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[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...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11156598">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[Mohsin Hamid's first novel, <em>Moth Smoke</em>, dealt with the confluence of personal and political themes, and his second, <em>The Reluctant Fundamentalist</em>, revisits that territory in the person of Changez, a young Pakistani.  Told in a single monologue, the narrative never flags. Changez is by turns naive, sinister, unctuous, mildly threatening, overbearing, insulting, angry, resentful, and sad. He tells his story to a nameless, mysterious American who sits across from him at a Lahore cafe.  Educated at Princeton, employed by a first-rate valuation firm, Changez was living the American dream, earning more money than he thought possible, caught up in the New York social scene and in love with a beautiful, wealthy,   damaged girl.  The romance is negligible; Erica is emotionally unavailable, endlessly grieving the death of her lifelong friend and boyfriend, Chris.<br/><br/>Changez is in Manila on 9/11 and sees the towers come down on TV.  He tells the American, &quot;...I <em>smiled</em>.  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...&quot; When he returns to  New York, there is a   palpable change in attitudes toward him, starting right at immigration.  His name and his face render him suspect.<br/><br/>Ongoing trouble between Pakistan and India urge Changez to return home for a visit, despite his parents' advice to stay where he is. While there, he realizes that he has changed in a way that shames him.  &quot;I was struck at first by how shabby our house appeared... I was saddened to find it in such a state... This was where I came from... and it smacked of lowliness.&quot; He exorcises that feeling and once again appreciates his home for its   &quot;unmistakable personality and idiosyncratic charm.&quot; While at home, he lets his beard grow.  Advised to shave it, even by his mother, he refuses.  It will be his line in the sand, his   statement about who he is.  His company sends him to Chile for another business valuation; his mind filled with the troubles in Pakistan and the U.S. involvement with India that keeps the pressure on.  His work and the money he earns have been overtaken by resentment of the United States and all it stands for. <br/><br/>Hamid's prose is filled with insight, subtly delivered: &quot;I felt my age: an almost childlike twenty-two, rather than that permanent middle-age that attaches itself to the man who lives alone and supports himself by wearing a suit in a city not of his birth.&quot;  In telling of the janissaries, Christian boys captured by Ottomans and trained to be soldiers in the Muslim Army, his Chilean host tells him: &quot;The janissaries were always taken in childhood.  It would have been far more difficult to devote themselves to their adopted empire, you see, if they   had memories they could not forget.&quot;  Changez cannot forget, and Hamid makes the reader understand that--and all that follows. <br/><em>--Valerie Ryan</em><br/><br/>Set in modern-day Pakistan, Mohsin Hamid's debut novel, <em>Moth Smoke</em>, went on to win awards and was listed as a <em>New York Times</em> Notable Book of the Year. His bold new novel, <em>The Reluctant Fundamentalist</em>, is a daring, fast-paced monologue of a young   Pakistani man telling his life story to a mysterious American stranger. It's a controversial look at the dark side of the American Dream, exploring the aftermath of 9/11, international   unease, and the dangerous pull of nostalgia.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>5</votes>
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  <date_added>Mon Jul 30 01:37:23 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 02:48:29 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[So far a total disappointment.<br/>What happened to the brilliant author of Moth Smoke?<br/><br/>This book with his narrator's monologue looks like an attempt to simplify both: literature and points of view.<br/><br/>Even irony seems put here and there without a logic.<br/>And the effect of al...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3778365">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>24721025</id>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
  </title>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>7</votes>
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  <date_added>Tue Jun 17 11:34:34 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Jun 17 12:32:38 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[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.<br/><br/>These are the most confuseing ideas for the ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24721025">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>20894786</id>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.45</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[Mohsin Hamid's first novel, <em>Moth Smoke</em>, dealt with the confluence of personal and political   themes, and his second, <em>The Reluctant Fundamentalist</em>, revisits that territory in the   person of Changez, a young Pakistani.  Told in a single monologue, the narrative never   flags. Changez is by turns naive, sinister, unctuous, mildly threatening, overbearing,   insulting, angry, resentful, and sad. He tells his story to a nameless, mysterious American   who sits across from him at a Lahore cafe.  Educated at Princeton, employed by a first-rate   valuation firm, Changez was living the American dream, earning more money than he thought   possible, caught up in the New York social scene and in love with a beautiful, wealthy,   damaged girl.  The romance is negligible; Erica is emotionally unavailable, endlessly   grieving the death of her lifelong friend and boyfriend, Chris.  <p> Changez is in Manila on 9/11 and sees the towers come down on TV.  He tells the American,   &quot;...I <em>smiled</em>.  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...&quot; When he returns to  New York, there is a   palpable change in attitudes toward him, starting right at immigration.  His name and his   face render him suspect. <p>   Ongoing trouble between Pakistan and India urge Changez to return home for a visit, despite   his parents' advice to stay where he is. While there, he realizes that he has changed in a   way that shames him.  &quot;I was struck at first by how shabby our house appeared... I was   saddened to find it in such a state... This was where I came from... and it smacked of   lowliness.&quot; He exorcises that feeling and once again appreciates his home for its   &quot;unmistakable personality and idiosyncratic charm.&quot; While at home, he lets his beard grow.    Advised to shave it, even by his mother, he refuses.  It will be his line in the sand, his   statement about who he is.  His company sends him to Chile for another business valuation;   his mind filled with the troubles in Pakistan and the U.S. involvement with India that keeps   the pressure on.  His work and the money he earns have been overtaken by resentment of the   United States and all it stands for. <p> Hamid's prose is filled with insight, subtly delivered: &quot;I felt my age: an almost childlike   twenty-two, rather than that permanent middle-age that attaches itself to the man who lives   alone and supports himself by wearing a suit in a city not of his birth.&quot;  In telling of the   janissaries, Christian boys captured by Ottomans and trained to be soldiers in the Muslim   Army, his Chilean host tells him: &quot;The janissaries were always taken in childhood.  It would   have been far more difficult to devote themselves to their adopted empire, you see, if they   had memories they could not forget.&quot;  Changez cannot forget, and Hamid makes the reader   understand that--and all that follows. <em>--Valerie Ryan</em> Pakistani man telling his life story to a mysterious American stranger. It's a controversial   look at the dark side of the American Dream, exploring the aftermath of 9/11, international   unease, and the dangerous pull of nostalgia. </p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>5</votes>
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  <read_at>Thu May 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Apr 24 11:00:59 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu May 08 15:22:10 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I think I would have enjoyed this book more had I not found Changez's character to be so predictable and hypocritical.  He says &quot;I myself was a form of indentured servant whose right to remain (in the US) was dependent upon the continued benevolence of my employer.&quot;  Lets see, he gets a fr...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20894786">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20894786]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>52239242</id>
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    <id>1727205</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Megha]]></name>
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  <isbn>0141029544</isbn>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
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  <average_rating>3.38</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[Mohsin Hamid's first novel, <em>Moth Smoke</em>, dealt with the confluence of personal and political themes, and his second, <em>The Reluctant Fundamentalist</em>, revisits that territory in the person of Changez, a young Pakistani.  Told in a single monologue, the narrative never flags. Changez is by turns naive, sinister, unctuous, mildly threatening, overbearing, insulting, angry, resentful, and sad. He tells his story to a nameless, mysterious American who sits across from him at a Lahore cafe.  Educated at Princeton, employed by a first-rate valuation firm, Changez was living the American dream, earning more money than he thought possible, caught up in the New York social scene and in love with a beautiful, wealthy,   damaged girl.  The romance is negligible; Erica is emotionally unavailable, endlessly grieving the death of her lifelong friend and boyfriend, Chris.<br/><br/>Changez is in Manila on 9/11 and sees the towers come down on TV.  He tells the American, &quot;...I <em>smiled</em>.  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...&quot; When he returns to  New York, there is a   palpable change in attitudes toward him, starting right at immigration.  His name and his face render him suspect.<br/><br/>Ongoing trouble between Pakistan and India urge Changez to return home for a visit, despite his parents' advice to stay where he is. While there, he realizes that he has changed in a way that shames him.  &quot;I was struck at first by how shabby our house appeared... I was saddened to find it in such a state... This was where I came from... and it smacked of lowliness.&quot; He exorcises that feeling and once again appreciates his home for its   &quot;unmistakable personality and idiosyncratic charm.&quot; While at home, he lets his beard grow.  Advised to shave it, even by his mother, he refuses.  It will be his line in the sand, his   statement about who he is.  His company sends him to Chile for another business valuation; his mind filled with the troubles in Pakistan and the U.S. involvement with India that keeps the pressure on.  His work and the money he earns have been overtaken by resentment of the United States and all it stands for. <br/><br/>Hamid's prose is filled with insight, subtly delivered: &quot;I felt my age: an almost childlike twenty-two, rather than that permanent middle-age that attaches itself to the man who lives alone and supports himself by wearing a suit in a city not of his birth.&quot;  In telling of the janissaries, Christian boys captured by Ottomans and trained to be soldiers in the Muslim Army, his Chilean host tells him: &quot;The janissaries were always taken in childhood.  It would have been far more difficult to devote themselves to their adopted empire, you see, if they   had memories they could not forget.&quot;  Changez cannot forget, and Hamid makes the reader understand that--and all that follows. <br/><em>--Valerie Ryan</em><br/><br/>Set in modern-day Pakistan, Mohsin Hamid's debut novel, <em>Moth Smoke</em>, went on to win awards and was listed as a <em>New York Times</em> Notable Book of the Year. His bold new novel, <em>The Reluctant Fundamentalist</em>, is a daring, fast-paced monologue of a young   Pakistani man telling his life story to a mysterious American stranger. It's a controversial look at the dark side of the American Dream, exploring the aftermath of 9/11, international   unease, and the dangerous pull of nostalgia.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
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  <date_added>Fri Apr 10 17:06:50 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Apr 15 19:41:18 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA['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...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52239242">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52239242]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52239242]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>32980339</id>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
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  <average_rating>3.54</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>4</votes>
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  <date_added>Mon Sep 15 22:35:01 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Sep 29 23:43:55 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is a lovely, short, very easy-to-read post 9/11 book.<br/><br/>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 Kipl...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32980339">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32980339]]></url>
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Beth(MN)]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
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    <![CDATA[Mohsin Hamid's first novel, <em>Moth Smoke</em>, dealt with the confluence of personal and political   themes, and his second, <em>The Reluctant Fundamentalist</em>, revisits that territory in the   person of Changez, a young Pakistani.  Told in a single monologue, the narrative never   flags. Changez is by turns naive, sinister, unctuous, mildly threatening, overbearing,   insulting, angry, resentful, and sad. He tells his story to a nameless, mysterious American   who sits across from him at a Lahore cafe.  Educated at Princeton, employed by a first-rate   valuation firm, Changez was living the American dream, earning more money than he thought   possible, caught up in the New York social scene and in love with a beautiful, wealthy,   damaged girl.  The romance is negligible; Erica is emotionally unavailable, endlessly   grieving the death of her lifelong friend and boyfriend, Chris.  <p> Changez is in Manila on 9/11 and sees the towers come down on TV.  He tells the American,   &quot;...I <em>smiled</em>.  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...&quot; When he returns to  New York, there is a   palpable change in attitudes toward him, starting right at immigration.  His name and his   face render him suspect. <p>   Ongoing trouble between Pakistan and India urge Changez to return home for a visit, despite   his parents' advice to stay where he is. While there, he realizes that he has changed in a   way that shames him.  &quot;I was struck at first by how shabby our house appeared... I was   saddened to find it in such a state... This was where I came from... and it smacked of   lowliness.&quot; He exorcises that feeling and once again appreciates his home for its   &quot;unmistakable personality and idiosyncratic charm.&quot; While at home, he lets his beard grow.    Advised to shave it, even by his mother, he refuses.  It will be his line in the sand, his   statement about who he is.  His company sends him to Chile for another business valuation;   his mind filled with the troubles in Pakistan and the U.S. involvement with India that keeps   the pressure on.  His work and the money he earns have been overtaken by resentment of the   United States and all it stands for. <p> Hamid's prose is filled with insight, subtly delivered: &quot;I felt my age: an almost childlike   twenty-two, rather than that permanent middle-age that attaches itself to the man who lives   alone and supports himself by wearing a suit in a city not of his birth.&quot;  In telling of the   janissaries, Christian boys captured by Ottomans and trained to be soldiers in the Muslim   Army, his Chilean host tells him: &quot;The janissaries were always taken in childhood.  It would   have been far more difficult to devote themselves to their adopted empire, you see, if they   had memories they could not forget.&quot;  Changez cannot forget, and Hamid makes the reader   understand that--and all that follows. <em>--Valerie Ryan</em> Pakistani man telling his life story to a mysterious American stranger. It's a controversial   look at the dark side of the American Dream, exploring the aftermath of 9/11, international   unease, and the dangerous pull of nostalgia. </p></p></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>4</votes>
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  <read_at>Fri Sep 12 11:19:06 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Sep 11 06:24:02 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 03 08:34:21 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Great title.  Amazing start.  Abrupt and uncomfortable ending.  I could not put this book down.<br/><br/>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 all...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32593602">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Daniel]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.54</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
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    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
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  <date_added>Fri Jul 18 14:51:50 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jul 18 14:52:54 -0700 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[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...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27654879">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
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  <average_rating>3.54</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[Shawn Sargent]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Jul 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jul 01 00:43:35 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Jul 02 10:42:13 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[…[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 ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25992439">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25992439]]></url>
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      <review>
  <id>8829340</id>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
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  <average_rating>3.54</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
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  <date_added>Thu Nov 08 06:33:24 -0800 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Nov 10 08:14:43 -0800 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[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 Americ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8829340">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>29338339</id>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
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  <average_rating>3.54</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
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    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
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  <read_at>Thu Aug 07 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Aug 05 13:41:14 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Aug 15 16:09:33 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[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. <br/><br/>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 me...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/29338339">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/29338339]]></url>
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
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  <average_rating>3.54</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
  </description>
  <published>2007</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
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  <read_at>Wed Apr 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Apr 17 10:45:01 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu May 08 11:20:14 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[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 ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20388724">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Gunjan]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
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  <average_rating>3.54</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>4137</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
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  <published>2007</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
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  <read_at>Sat Feb 16 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Feb 16 15:44:46 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Feb 16 15:46:16 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[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 de...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15587884">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15587884]]></url>
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    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
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  <date_updated>Sat Dec 06 17:23:22 -0800 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[I read this book while recovering from surgery.  When I saw it at the bookstore, it seemed to jump out at me.  I think I read it in about 3 days.  It details the life of a muslim Pakistani immigrant living in NYC.  Changez is Princeton educated and working for a prestigious evaluation firm, he is li...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39443148">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39443148]]></url>
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
  </title>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
  </description>
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  <read_at>Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[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 ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/51737823">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]>
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  <average_rating>3.54</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;div&gt;At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting . . . <br/><br/><br/><br/>Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite &quot;valuation&quot; firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. <br/><br/><br/><br/>But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.<br/><br/>&lt;/div&gt;]]>
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  <published>2007</published>
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  <read_at>Wed Jan 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jan 27 11:28:15 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Jan 28 15:23:33 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I sat down with this book today and read it from cover to cover in less than 5 hours. <br/><br/>Written in a one sided conversationalist tone, Hamid pulls us into the story of Changez and grabs our attention from the first sentence. <br/>A 21 year old Princeton graduate, lands his first, major jo...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44531782">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44531782]]></url>
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