The Reluctant Fundamentalist

To an extraordinary degree, this beautifully written short novel brought me into the mind and heart of someone I would not have expected to be interested in, let alone empathize with. The central character, of course, is young Pakistani who's had a superb American education, and has landed a superb American job. Everything (including a superb American girlfriend) seems to be going splendidly, until 9/11. That shatters his sense of identity, from the inside first -- he smiles when he hears the news, shocking himself profoundly, and begins to wonder who he really is. The continued unravelling (or crisis of faith, if secular careerism can be deemed a faith) is reinforced by changing American attitudes towards Muslims and the Muslim world. Eventually -- well, if you haven't read a plot summary yet, read the book to find out what happens.Read the book anyway, even if you know what happens. The way in which the book is narrated, a long monologue delivered by the Pakistani to a mysterious American in an unsettling Lahore cafe, brought me into an Arabian Nights world of storytelling, judicious pauses, and evocative language. The combination of this form with the very modern subject matter crystallizes the division between the narrator's Pakistani past and his one-time American future, a future now foregone. The language is crisp and exact, and the author's ability to pin-point (pin prick?) much about the U.S. response to 9/11 is uncanny, and uncomfortable. Some of his political comparisons -- for example, the way the civilians killed on 9/11 became victims never to be forgotten, while the civilians killed by American drones became collateral damage -- are now burned into my perceptions of my country's foreign policy. Why do they hate us? Because we push them around.If this book were non-fiction, there would be things in it that I would criticize, including a tendency to blame everything on the U.S. (Why do we push them around? Because, sometimes, they are harming our interests, and other times they are threatening our "friends". ) But it isn't non-fiction, it's a novel, and a novel is allowed to present one view of the world without making allowances for conflicting points of view. Moreover, the central character's sympathy with them rather than us isn't really all that inexplicable. Human beings are tribal, Americans as well as Pakistanis. Years ago, when IRA bombings were terrorizing London, an Irish-American banker friend of mine was in London on business. When he heard that another bomb had gone off, with injuries and possibly deaths, he didn't smile. He did, however, think "One for our side". When he told me about this, I was amazed, as I think was he when it happened. Our pre-civilized emotions rear their ugly heads, even in the financial services industry.

Hamid builds his story, and the suspense, brilliantly in this short, fast-paced tale. The narrator is a high-achieving Pakistani who went to Princeton on a scholarship and joined a McKinsey-type consulting firm. He both admires and resents America. Resentment gets the upper hand following a failed love affair and 9/11. The novel is set after his return to Lahore, where he has grown a beard and become a college professor who mentors fundamentalist students. The narrator tells his story to a suspicious American in a Lahore market cafe, and the reader must try to figure out who the narrator really is and what his and his listener's intentions are towards each other. How one reads the situation as it unfolds probably says as much or more about the reader as about the characters. I was thoroughly engaged and went on to read Hamid's next book -- How to get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia -- which I would give five stars. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is clever, witty and engaging, but not as touching as Filthy Rich. I would recommend reading both: and I am going to read Moth Smoke.

This is a very well written work of fiction by a Pakistani novelist. The story starts with an extremely intelligent and well educated Pakistani speaking to an American. The setting is Pakistan. The protagonist describes, from his view, his experiences in America and of Americans. The protagonist was working in America, for an American Company, before and after Sep. 11, 2001. I fear saying much more about content as I have no desire to diminish one's reading experience.The novel has a semi autobiographical aspect to it. The protagonist is a Pakistani was educated at Princeton. Mohsin Hamid, the author, is a Pakistani educated at Princeton. I feel I have not read enough author's from Asia and intend to correct that. The novel itself is both unusual to my experience and very well written. There is suspense that slowly builds that I felt was the product of superior writing skills.I read this book on Kindle while listening to the audiobook simultaneously. The narrator of the audiobook is Satya Bhabha. Up until the last few of Chapter 3 the audiobook was a perfect reproduction of this excellent novel. Mr. Bhabha's narration has been excellent and has added to the reading experience. However a significant part of the end of Chapter 3 is completely missing. It is an important part of the story and if one only listens to the audiobook one will miss it, I think without knowing it. It is approximately the last five paragraphs. One can still comprehend the story, if one only listens to the audiobook, but the reading experience is altered, and not for the better.Similarly, the last two paragraphs of Chapter 9 are missing. The narration of this chapter ends at the end of a paragraph. Once again, I believe if one only listens to the audiobook, one will not be able to detect this. Once again, the story does not become incomprehensible, but is, I think, diminished.I paid very little more for the Kindle and audiobook combination than I would have for just the audiobook and I am glad I did so. Thank You...