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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
This was a quick and easy read, and a little thought-provoking...it stuck with me a couple of days. But it wasn't that great of a book. The writing was ok and the story was kind of slow, and very obvious and predictable. I don't know why it was raved about so much. Decide for yourself, like I said, it's a quick read.
I would recommend this book because it is a quick read. I can't say that I really loved this book because I didn't really love the main character. Upon first starting to read it, I thought that the narrator was much older, reflecting on a time long, long ago, only to find towards the end of the book that only a few years have passed since most of the incidents that he is recounting. I also found the way the book was written (one long one-sided conversation) kind of annoying. It was kind of like listening to someone who just loves to hear themselves talk. But despite that, I thought that the perspective that the author were trying to get across was interesting. Not overly compelling, but interesting.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
As a reader I feel extremely manipulated by this book. But I grudgingly admit that the form works perfectly and the suspense is built very well.
Perhaps the most important thing to say is that I started this today and finished it today. Life rarely affords me the opportunity to do such a thing, and when the rare chance arises the novel in hand is rarely compelling enough to make it happen. It happened today.
As such, I'll be processing for a while here, but this novel--the one-sided direct address of a young Pakistani man to his slowly revealed American audience at a table in the streets of Lahore--compels the reader as much as the fictive listener who rises from the table only when the speaker ultimately suggests they depart.
From a middle-distance, I think it's easy to politicize this story of a gifted Pakistani man who feverishly adopts and ultimately rejects American values (particularly capitalist rapacity) on his way toward something like radicalism, but too quickly turning to the political dimensions of this tale undervalues the convincing specificity of Changez' narrative, which is not the story of a Muslim man rejecting Western exceptionalism but the story of a young dude who had his heart smashed by a mysterious and broken young woman.
By centering Changez' crisis around a broken heart rather than ideology, Hamid makes him as much a lovelorn avatar of unrequited love as a radical, and the tangled resulting narrative is as complicated and resistant to blunt-minded interpretations as any life is.
Now watch me go read my third Hamid novel in two weeks.
2/20: And it's maybe a perfect audiobook? As an extended dramatic monologue, the direct address of audio is spot on, and the reader is fabulous.
As such, I'll be processing for a while here, but this novel--the one-sided direct address of a young Pakistani man to his slowly revealed American audience at a table in the streets of Lahore--compels the reader as much as the fictive listener who rises from the table only when the speaker ultimately suggests they depart.
From a middle-distance, I think it's easy to politicize this story of a gifted Pakistani man who feverishly adopts and ultimately rejects American values (particularly capitalist rapacity) on his way toward something like radicalism, but too quickly turning to the political dimensions of this tale undervalues the convincing specificity of Changez' narrative, which is not the story of a Muslim man rejecting Western exceptionalism but the story of a young dude who had his heart smashed by a mysterious and broken young woman.
By centering Changez' crisis around a broken heart rather than ideology, Hamid makes him as much a lovelorn avatar of unrequited love as a radical, and the tangled resulting narrative is as complicated and resistant to blunt-minded interpretations as any life is.
Now watch me go read my third Hamid novel in two weeks.
2/20: And it's maybe a perfect audiobook? As an extended dramatic monologue, the direct address of audio is spot on, and the reader is fabulous.
Great title, great cover art. Unrealistic characters, pervasive American ideals, choppy prose, awkward literary devices. Don't judge the book by the cover.
Wow, this was a rather compelling read. I heard about this book from one of the many books mentioned in the End of Your Life Book Club novel, so I decided to check it out. I bet the title alone would scare some readers away. It truly was about a young man and his internal struggle to have a life and love in America. His obsession with Erica was insane. OMG, dude she is mentally ill and you want to be with her when she wants you to be her dead boyfriend?? eww... He lost a lot of my sympathy when he pretended to be her boyfriend just to sleep with her and even after she ended up in a mental institution and perhaps committed suicide, still seemed to be obsessed with her. I've read some commenters on here that his name Chagez stood for Change and her name Erica represented America. Interesting given the nature of her character and how they both seemed to have unhealthy obsessions. I will have to think on that a bit more. The one part I did not like was he talking to the guy a lot, yes, I get how it tied in at the end, but it felt excessive and at times, unnecessary. Overall, a quick read and leads the reader to ponder on a lot of issues and ideas as a whole.
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated