Customer Reviews

The Reluctant Fundamentalist: A Novel (Hardcover)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What a waste of a book that could have been really powerful! I went back and read the critical reviews and all I can say is that the critics had to have been motivated by a sense of political correctness (a misplaced "such voices - exotic? diverse? multi-cultural? anti-american? - must be heard") in reviewing this insipid, uninspiring and ultimately (and this is THE big sin in my book) boring story.

But let's put political correctness aside. After all that's not what we are (at least I am not) looking for in reading other people's stories; instead I hope discover a little bit more about life's universal truths or something that resembles them when I put aside an evening to read such a well-reviewed book. Re. the politics: the politics of blaming America for 9/11 and justifying Islamic terrorism is palpable just below the surface (protagonist feels happy when twin towers come down!) and it is annoying BUT I am completely comfortable with even that assumption as long as the writer can draw me into a compelling narrative with a protagonist who has something convincingly righteous (in his own mind) and/or true to tell us. None of this happens.

The other annoying issue is the use of the device where the main protagonist tells this story (all past tense) to a visiting American in Pakistan post 9/11. The device is annoying because of how the story unfolds; additionally the tone that the author uses for the protagonist is one of a cheap tout or local tour guide which is simply incorrect and misplaced. No Pakistani from a well-placed family like the protagonist's, educated at Princeton, worked at a top NY financial services firm would talk/behave in this manner with a visiting American. I doubt if American readers will pick up on this false note but it was jarring for me (I am from India and do have a good sense for how such story-telling might play out).

Finally the story is uninspiring because the protagonist is torn, confused, misguided by a sense of guilt and a feeling of being an outsider and never quite resolves or understands any of it. The only distraction is that he manages to fall in love with a white American woman -- but she in turn is in love with a dead man (yes ironical, cruelly beautiful but finally uninteresting); even their single sex scene evokes only pity. All of this might also have been fine except that there is never any kind of insight or redemption or even a glimmer of hope that the protagonist is on some sort of a journey. Life's-a-bitch-and-then-you-die is the easiest kind of story to write. Perhaps it is interesting to some people. But for me it's primarily lazy, insufferable and boring.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid is an incredible, mind altering story filled with ominous suspense, and an attentive outside view of America.

The story is told in an interesting way, narrated by Changez to an American acquaintance while sitting at a café in Lahore. I both liked and disliked this style of storytelling. In the beginning I had a difficult time connecting with the characters, but that changed as I came to the middle and end of the story. The conversational tone made the book quick and easy to read.
Changez tells his story of attending college in America and excelling in the corporate world. After 9/11, though, his life in the US begins to unravel as he feels torn between his roots in Pakistan and his new life in America. All the while, Changez engages in a doomed love affair with Erica, this golden girl drowning in her love for her dead boyfriend.

I feel as though the relationship Changez had with Erica was a metaphor for his relationship with America and being American. He fell fast and hard, quickly becoming a part of her world. He accompanied her to many events and parties and was accepted easily, but still felt like an outsider on some level. After 9/11 she withdrew from him, making him less a part of her world and then shutting him out altogether. She longed for something that was no longer attainable; Changez longed to feel a part of her world again, even if that meant pretending to be someone he wasn't.

I loved seeing America through Changez's eyes. I thought that reading this book wouldn't alter my perspective too much because I'm a fan of novels set in the Middle East. I thought my perspectives had been changed a long while ago. In the story, Changez talks about how little America experiences the effects of war at home. War isn't fought on our soil. We don't fear for our lives and our safety everyday like so many other people around the world. Changez's home country of Pakistan was NOT at war with America or Afghanistan, yet they felt the impact much more deeply than we did as Americans. In this way, my view of the world has been profoundly altered. I would recommend this book if only just for the new outlook.

More than any well-researched article you may read, this haunting and oddly frightening piece of fiction will give you insight into the dynamic that can turn a Western-educated Muslim from a rising star on Wall Street into a coordinator of jihadist efforts. The writing is deliberately ambiguous and unsettling. New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2007.

Changez is the best Pakistan has to offer the world, brilliant, handsome, ambitious. Nothing can go wrong for him; he sprints through Princeton, best in his class, and easily obtains the best job in New York City and a beautiful American girlfriend.

And then 9/11 happens and everything does go wrong.

It's the way this story is written that is so wonderful. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is written with Changez speaking directly to an unidentified American in Pakistan, a conversation, a dialogue really, that extends the entire length of the book. It felt like Changez was talking directly to me, the reader, confiding in me the animosities, the hurts, the frustrations of those who grow up outside America's borders.

Changez reveals the differences between himself, the outsider, and Americans. He tells us he has come to "savor the denial of gratification." He is irritated with Americans and the "ease with which they spent money", their "self-righteousness". He admires his own ability to function both "respectfully and with self-respect," something he sees Americans as unable to do. He resents Americans, who did not even exist as a people while his ancestors were building a rich civilization.

And what an ending. It's been a long time since I read a book with such a powerful and satisfying ending.

I enjoy the writting style a lot. But more than this I really appreciated the parallel between his love for the girl and his love for America. Both the girl and his first vision of America as a great place of equality and opportunity fade away and then disappear completely. As someone who loves history I find it very unsettling the extent to which most people in the US have no idea why anyone in the rest of the world would dislike our foreign policy... because most Americans have so little idea what it is or what it does to other human beings. I don't like the way the US media and politicians make anyone in the world who disagrees with our self-interest a "dangerous and bad person." I love the ability shown here to gently flesh-out someone who disagrees with US policy and show him as nothing more than a kindred human being who shares exactly our own concern for our family and our loved ones.

Read it quickly as it flows well and is written elegantly. Didn't quite like the perspective/indirect speech/monologue but definitely appreciated the attempt at something different. It's done intelligently and well, it just didn't appeal to my taste. I thought the love story and account of work etc was good...maybe I would have hoped for more depth regarding his dislike of America, even if he did attempt to explain why...I think a few more examples would have fleshed out the story better to understand his conflict. I'm a US citizen who has lived overseas many years, so I think I know what he means by much of what he says...but I also think many readers who haven't got that experience probably don't. The ending disappointed me a little ....like what is happening with the waiter who followed...I would have preferred more closure

Well-crafted novel. An absorbing read. Highly recommended!

It would be great if people understood giving a review here is for the book, not the book seller.

I am very disappointed. Have still not received this book. I complained once with no response. I gave it one star because the program does not allow one to give it no stars.