The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google NewsREVIEW: The Reluctant Fundamentalist

By Mohsin Hamid

Published by Penguin/Viking

Price: Rs 295/-


Now here's a book that pulls in you in from the get go. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is written in a very stark, spare sort of prose...but takes the form of a conversation. A conversation between the reluctant fundamentalist, Changez (pronounced cheHnghayz) and an American ex-military type...all the world away in Lahore.

It's a beautiful book.

Changez's conversation allows for a tableau to unfold - where you see a young Changez, old-World and charming, beginning to make a life of it in the US - as a bright Princeton graduate who's snapped up by an elite valuation firm, Underwood Samson and Company...where someone sees in him the burning drive to make it big.
You see Changez doing well, falling in love, almost happy, with an American he meets in far-off Greece - where an entire group of Princetonians make their way post-graduation...

You have Changez, the face of globalisation, the young bright Pakistani studying in Ivy League heaven. Changez, the face of Big Corporate, working with a super-elite firm...Changez, who starts seeing himself as a modern-day janissary (and what a beautiful metaphor that is!)...Changez, the sensitive lover...you see Changez transforming...
Changez, the deeply disturbed young man, consumed by events and attitudes that engulf him. You see Changez slipping away...and you're ultimately left with Changez, the conversationalist...And what a conversation it is!!

"Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America..."

That's how the book opens...There are so many strands, where to begin?
There's so much here - the dynamic of the desi vs American, the socio-economic divide, boy vs girl, Third World vs First World, big money vs small firms, life as the Other. And nothing sets you up quite like the little provocative hints...that Thing are Going to Change. Post 9/11, that is, and it's something that resonates - you know it isn't going to be this good for young Changez again, despite his go-getter attitude and growing bank balance...you know, through osmosis and from the Real World, that the tables are bound to turn after the Twin Towers fall.

But what's just heartening, is to see a writer avoid the clichés, and the Big Moments, the hyper-drama...and stick to what's real. (Even if Indian readers may feel a twinge, when Changez comes to the 2002 buildup and military paranoia post the 13 December attacks on Parliament...)

You feel for Changez and the love that's twisted out his grasp...you feel the what if, what if?... There are few more wistful what if's...
But luckily, there's no beating you over the head with a message here. It's a conversation, it remains a conversation, albeit a one-sided one, and it ends as a conversation with just the HINT of something to come. No spoilers here, but suffice it to say that you're left literally imagining the outcome...and just as the author intends it (check out interview in In-Depth at ibnlive.com).

After a long time, here's a book you can read start to finish, a story that speaks to you - that speaks multiculturalism, multicultural longing, that speaks of different worlds and identities and the struggles that go into everyday life.

Hamid has done an extraordinary job, working deftly to leave you with a story that will definitely resonate for some time to come.

I for one would love to meet Changez on the author's next journey, but on the other hand, maybe things work out best the way they are ... Time to go and look for Hamid's first novel, Moth Smoke, though he himself says that's an entire world apart.


The Reluctant Fundamentalist is available hardbound for Rs 295/-
You can also check out Mohsin Hamid's site www.mohsinhamid.com About the AuthorAmrita Tripathi Amrita Tripathi is a news anchor with CNN-IBN, and also doubles up as Health and Books Editor. An MA in Philosophy from St Stephen's College, Delhi Un...Read Morefirst published:May 09, 2007, 17:08 ISTlast updated:May 09, 2007, 17:08 IST
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