Friday, July 6, 2012

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

I did not like this book at all. It was handed to me a few years ago by a relative as a Must Read and has been sitting on my TBR shelf unopened ever since. I am just not all that interested in politics or religion and don't really appreciate being preached to about either, so. But seeing as this is my summer for clearing out the oldest TBRs on my shelf, I thought it would be a good time to finally read it and, who knows, perhaps be inspired or surprised. I wasn't. It was every bit as moralistic and preachy as I suspected it would be. A 'reluctant' fundamentalist? Oh please. I am so sick of political bashing and all things 'fundamentalist' coming off as justified for anyone in any camp. The whole concept of fundamentalism has no place in a rational, thinking, tolerant society.

At a cafe 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 encounter . . . 


Changez is living an immigrant's dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by an elite valuation firm. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned and his relationship with Erica shifting. And Changez's own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love. (back cover)

4 comments:

Sam (Tiny Library) said...

I didn't like this one either - especially the ending.

laughingwolf said...

i get so tired of it all myself...

Debbie Rodgers said...

This was a book club pick here - and I couldn't finish it.

Trish said...

Sam - I had pretty much written it off by the end. I was tempted to stop reading when he said he 'smiled' at the news of the 9/11 attacks. What?? But I kept on, thinking that maybe there would be something redeeming at the end. No, there wasn't.

LW - Yes, me too.

Debbie - I can certainly understand not wanting to finish it. I bet it generated some heated discussion in your book club, though.