The Reluctant Fundamentalist
by Mohsin Hamid
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Book Reviews of The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Book Review: Some Parts are very good some others superficial
Summary: 3 Stars
I started to read this book by accident, I had to deliver it somewhere but I read the first pages because I din't have anything else for the subway ride.
In this respect is very interesting it hookes you up from the first few pages, the story is told as it is a conversation with an american turist, the initial idea is good, but then due to the frequent interruption from the underlying story, it becomes to my opinion a little distacting and even annoying.
The analysis of the Changez life, the ambition, the hunger, the difficulties of a foreigner in the US are done very well, probably the best part of the book, the relationship with her female friend is also good, specially the reflection that Changez does of his feeling, but she seems to bee a little too messed up to be a believable charachter and the end of the relationship is a littel too dramatic for the general tone of the book.
I also personally think, as I read on other reviews that Changez final decision to leave the USA and go back to Pakistan is not delivered with the accurate depth. It seems to me that such a change of heart must have more deep motivation than " stick it to the man". I never heard that the reason that brings an emigrant to go back to his own country is basd on Political ideology, there is much more involved than this, family, economical reasons, convenience, quality of life. For sure in a novel it is not so sexy to go back home because you miss your family but agin the motivation is not properly delivered. In general it is a good reading, very good build up, conclusion a little weak.
Book Review: A Memoir, A Confession, or A Speech?
Summary: 4 Stars
This short work is hard to put down. I found it rather compelling, well-written, and convincing, in the sense that the narrator's voice seemed sincere. The story of disgruntled Ivy League graduates is going to be very much on everyone's minds now that the First Lady is in the spotlight. Mrs. Obama seems to have her own story to tell about feeling out of place among America's trust fund brats. Be that as it may, Hamid convincingly tells his story of upward mobility at Princeton and then on to Wall Street. Resentment is easily cultivated; this is the story of a fellow who rises quickly, wanting nothing but money and success until he realizes that there is more to life than first-class flights to the ends of the earth. It is not entirely clear whether this is all the Princeton had to teach; what is clear is that this is all that Hamid came to America for. When he sorts it all out, he blames America. Something tells me that this is what he learned at Princeton, since this is more or less all that one hears from writers educated in such places. Still his story is not to be dismissed. The relationship between the Princeton grad from Pakistan and his reluctant girlfriend strikes me as the heart of the story, but this relationship is not nearly as easily sorted out as the politics of the author. He's found himself a deeply disturbed gal who can't get over the death of a previous boyfriend. Just what this means is unclear, but one can't help wondering if the author is trying to wrap a political parable around a soft psychological center.Book Review: Lazy memoir
Summary: 1 Stars
His first novel was about Princeton graduates in Lahore and this novel is about Princeton graduates from Lahore who worked for a consultancy firm...oh hang on he is a Princeton graduate from Lahore who worked for a consultancy...how lazy can you be? there is no creativity here no real explanation as to why Changez becomes who he is and we don;t even know what he is. Obviously lacking the creative tools to follow his journey through from America to where we find him, Hamid simply uses what he knows which is consulting in America and rehashes his own life again. His prose is poor (when Erica's mum says to him 'You get me?'-what? when did Erica's mum turn into a ghetto gal? and pretentiousness reaches laughable levels when he uses phrases like the tikka of the chicken or the kebab of the lamb??? Lol. Primary school kid level!) I can't believe he was nominated for a Booker, unless they just looked at the cover and didn't read the novel. It offers no useful insights into a post 9-11 world at all, the non war between Pakistan and India is hardly enough to be radicalised. I can't believe this got published let alone got positive reviews. Hamid must be laughing himself silly every night at the stupidity of non Princeton educated dumb mass populaces and critics who his consulting brain has manipulated. Whatever. the only use for this book is to burn it instead of wood. Absolute waste of paper!! Dreadful dreadful book!Book Review: Willing Fundamentalist
Summary: 1 Stars
When reviewing a literary work, it is always difficult to decide whether to review the content or the message. Let me confess that this is a review of the message, which I believe is more important in this case.
The book is a semi-autobiographical sketch of a fundamentalist who is only too willing for the cause. For all his sophistication, the author does not even bother to question why his protagonist is supremely hateful of the country of his adoption. The country being the US and the protagonist being a Muslim is considered sufficient explanation for his fundamentalist leanings. His satisfaction on 9/11 and the rationalization of it is chilling. Author does not try to explore why the society that gave the protagonist all the opportunities in life carries no value for him. There is no emotional soul searching or any psychological explanation. It is just assumed that the reader would immediately see the author's point of view simply because the hate object is the West.
Author's attempt to rationalize his point of view by dragging Indo-Pak politics is even more pathetic. There is nothing in the novel or in the realpolitik that would make a Western audience appreciate his world view. Why should a westerner feel any warmth for the protagonist being a Pakistani, when he knows that his country's support was coerced - not freely received?
Book Review: Interesting But Too Inconsistent
Summary: 3 Stars
The narration of this book takes place over the course of a dinner shared by Changez,and an unidentified male American. Changez, a Princeton graduate, had secured a coveted job at a prestigious firm, Underwood Samson, determining the value of other businesses and was in love with Erica, who was in love with her deceased boyfriend.
The conversation was essentially a monologue of how Changez realized the rage he felt against America's imperialistic foreign policies. Following his joyful appreciation of 9/11, his life began to unravel, leading to his being fired from his job, and ultimately returning to his family in Lahore, Pakistan where he becomes a professor involved in anti-American rallies.
Changez' hold on reality is tenuous. In his desperation to connect with Erica, he offers to have her pretend he is her deceased lover. That is the second and last time they will make love. It is very clear that no matter what he felt about America, he would have stayed here had been able to win Erica's love. He couldn't and he turned his rage elsewhere. It made a very intelligent character, too transparent.
Through the conversation, Changez told the most intimate details to a man whose name he never used, and whose connection to him is never discussed. It didn't make sense.
The ending also left me cold.