The Reluctant Fundamentalist

by Mohsin Hamid

he had grown up outside the candy store, and I had grown up on its threshold as its door was being shut.

would suggest that it is instead our solitude that most disturbs us, the fact that we are all but alone despite being in the heart of a city.

As a society, you were unwilling to reflect upon the shared pain that united you with those who attacked you. You retreated into myths of your own difference, assumptions of your own superiority.