 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | Mohsin Hamid's first novel, Moth Smoke, dealt with the confluence of personal and political themes, and his second, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, 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. Changez is in Manila on 9/11 and sees the towers come down on TV. He tells the American, "...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..." 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. 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. "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." He exorcises that feeling and once again appreciates his home for its "unmistakable personality and idiosyncratic charm." 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. Hamid's prose is filled with insight, subtly delivered: "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." In telling of the janissaries, Christian boys captured by Ottomans and trained to be soldiers in the Muslim Army, his Chilean host tells him: "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." Changez cannot forget, and Hamid makes the reader understand that--and all that follows. --Valerie Ryan
A Conversation with Mohsin Hamid
 Set in modern-day Pakistan, Mohsin Hamid's debut novel, Moth Smoke, went on to win awards and was listed as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His bold new novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, 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. Amazon.com senior editor Brad Thomas Parsons shared an e-mail exchange with Mohsin Hamid to talk about his powerful new book
Read the Amazon.com Interview with Mohsin Hamid
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Average Customer Rating:    Summing up a life The urge to tell one's life story to a complete stranger is not unusual... although this one is on several levels. Changez, a young Pakistani, expounds on his experiences during his years living in the United States in greater and more intimate detail than one would expect (or be interested in as a listener). His monologue addresses an undefined American, maybe visitor maybe something else, to Lahore as they sip tea, eat dinner and watch the sun set, adding a special glow to the grand square... In between conveying the chapters of his story Changez, sensing an increasing unease in his counterpart, attempts to put his listener at ease: offering to switch tea cups or pre-tasting the food to prove no ill-will on the part of the waiter or anybody else.
Changez - I cannot get away from the `change-ling' association of his name - was an ambitious and evidently successful academic immigrant to the US. Maybe, his success at Princeton and in a top consulting company has been a bit too easy to be believable. He plays the role of the young executive with great style, always fitting in, until the events of 9/11 provoke him into reflections and doubts that will eventually lead him back to Lahore. During his time in New York, he is infatuated by a beautiful blond intelligent woman. He courts her gently and respectfully and takes the role of her confidante. Realistic? I am not sure, but Changez eventually is carried away by his emotions resulting in expected as well as unexpected outcomes.
Mohsin Hamid writes this monologue in a fluid, often beautiful and easygoing style. Much more substance is hinted at than provided, leaving the reader with time and space for reflection on the attitudes of immigrants such as Changez attempting to fit in. Probably the most interesting aspect of the novel is the perspective from the outside looking in on American society and its values. (Friederike Knabe)
A very pleasant surprise--not really five stars, but more than four This compact tale of a young Pakistani man forced to leave New York and return to his home country after 9/11 makes for a gripping read. True, there's a slightly contrived element to the narrative (that I'm not going to give away here), but the protagonist is fascinating, the story suspenseful, and the writing impressively self-assured. The novel manages to make a statement of social, cultural, and political weight, and be a breeze to read at the same time. Highly recommended. Review of The Reluctant Fundamentalist A thought-provoking novel. The main character, Changez is a very human person, polite and well-spoken as he tells his story and someone that could easily be that person who lives next door, or that co-worker that has always been so polite.
His reaction to 9/11 was, I think, realistic, and the first real indication of who he actually is. Despite the fact that he was given opportunities galore (Free education, extraordinary job opportunities) he still resents the U.S. - and that seems...more A thought-provoking novel. The main character, Changez is a very human person, polite and well-spoken as he tells his story and someone that could easily be that person who lives next door, or that co-worker that has always been so polite.
His reaction to 9/11 was, I think, realistic, and the first real indication of who he actually is. Despite the fact that he was given opportunities galore (Free education, extraordinary job opportunities) he still resents the U.S. - and that seems tied to his resentment of how times in Pakistan grow worse throughout the years.
The love story with Erica was heart-breaking, and the ending was chilling.
Recommended for those who want a glimpse of how the "other side" not directly involved in the terrorist attacks might have felt and reacted. The Qualities of Changez I admire Mohsin Hamid for the masterful way he tells the complex life story of Changez through a seamless monologue in The Reluctant Fundamentalist. I say complex, but in many ways Changez life contained the typical life hurdles faced by any young man: the innocent pursuit and longing for a love relationship that is not to be; the confusion as the identity instilled in you through family and culture is challenged by new and sparkly things; and the challenges faced when we realize we relate to the view from the outside as we stand amidst the insiders.
Changez seemed to me an actor or fraud in almost all aspects of his life. He seemed a person bent on denying who he was. At college he hid his financial status by working jobs in a neighboring city; at work he hid his family circumstances and his upraising to all but his boss (who identified it for Changez); in his relationship with Erica he willing took the persona of her dead lover to have the opportunity to make love to her; and upon returning to his homeland denied the positives of what he had been given in America. He could have been a powerful positive voice against what he saw as negatives in the Pakistan-United States relationship upon his return. Instead he amplified the negatives. A pity, but so it is.
Throughout the book I also kept thinking that this story could equally be written on a domestic level. An anxious and nervous white man eyes his surroundings as he listens to the story of a kind black man in Harlem, or an anxious and nervous black man eyes his surroundings as he listens to the story by a kind Latino man in East Los Angeles, or an anxious and nervous Latino man eyes his surroundings as he listens to the story of a kind Italian man in Little Italy in any town, and so on. Maybe that's the point, on a micro level we're all the same as on a macro level.
One point did seem a stretch to me in the book. Changez has lived his life as a quiet, respectful man who seldom was the outspoken voice in any situation. Yet, the book is centered on a multi-hour monologue by Changez to a complete stranger. This seemed a stretch to me.
Enjoy the book. It's a great read that has multiple layers.
Hamid, THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST Dianne Hunter's Review
This sad, status-obsessed novel reminded me of Browning's "My Last Duchess" in the way the narrator becomes progressively more despicable. The envious sensibility pervading the book is hierarchical, obsessed with power to compensate for feelings of inferiority and shame. The informing idea seems to be that America/American women won't accept Pakistani men unless they pose as Christians while participating in financial ruthlessness. |  |
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