The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Zubin Shroff (Jacket photograph) and Ed Kashi (Aut Orlando: Harcourt, Inc., 2007. First Edition [Stated], Third Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Format is 5.75 inches by 8.5 inches. [6], 184, [2] pages. Signed by the author on the title page. Mohsin Hamid (born 23 July 1971) is a British Pakistani novelist and writer. His novels are Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, Exit West, and The Last White Man. His novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, told the story of a Pakistani man who decides to leave his high-flying life in America after a failed love affair and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. It reached No. 4 on the New York Times Best Seller list. It won several awards including the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award, and was translated into over 25 languages. The novel used the unusual device of a dramatic monologue in which the Pakistani protagonist continually addresses an American listener who is never heard from directly. According to one commentator, because of this technique: maybe we the readers are the ones who jump to conclusions; maybe the book is intended as a Rorschach to reflect back our unconscious assumptions. In our not knowing lies the novel's suspense... Hamid literally leaves us at the end in a kind of alley, the story suddenly suspended; it's even possible that some act of violence might occur. But more likely, we are left holding the bag of conflicting worldviews. We're left to ponder the symbolism of Changez having been caught up in the game of symbolism?a game we ourselves have been known to play. Hamid said of The Reluctant Fundamentalist: "I'd rather people read my book twice than only half-way through." At a café table 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 meeting . . . Changez is living an immigrant's dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite "valuation" firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his infatuation 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 budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez's own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Racism, Discrimination, Self-Perception, Lahore, Pakistani, Princeton, Underwood Samson, New York, Changez, 9/11, Terrorism
ISBN: 9780151013043
[Book #84673]
Price: $75.00