Take a photo of a barcode or cover
maria_rb 's review for:
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
by Mohsin Hamid
3.5 - 4
I had no difficulties reading this in two hours, except that sometimes it felt like being trapped at a party with someone insistent on telling you a story that you are unsure of. It's not fully clear why you're being held hostage to the tale. But you continue to listen, and soon you are somewhat curious what happens, and you feel some empathy for the characters, and then the person is pulled away before he's able to finish telling you exactly what happened and you wonder about it before being distracted again.
The fact that the characters are representatives of their various nations is clear: Changez, an incredibly bright Pakistani who becomes enamored of the West and its potential for wealth & power, and Erica, a white American who is enthralled by a past trauma she cannot reconcile. Changez only becomes a reluctant fundamentalist after his encounters with Erica do not go as he envisions, and he is introduced to the idea of political subjugation by a South American "revolutionary."
I like the easy tone and the near-supplicatory way in which the author is almost pleading to be understood. However, it's not entirely clear what his fundamentalist views are or who the fundamentalist is: America, or Pakistan.
I had no difficulties reading this in two hours, except that sometimes it felt like being trapped at a party with someone insistent on telling you a story that you are unsure of. It's not fully clear why you're being held hostage to the tale. But you continue to listen, and soon you are somewhat curious what happens, and you feel some empathy for the characters, and then the person is pulled away before he's able to finish telling you exactly what happened and you wonder about it before being distracted again.
The fact that the characters are representatives of their various nations is clear: Changez, an incredibly bright Pakistani who becomes enamored of the West and its potential for wealth & power, and Erica, a white American who is enthralled by a past trauma she cannot reconcile. Changez only becomes a reluctant fundamentalist after his encounters with Erica do not go as he envisions, and he is introduced to the idea of political subjugation by a South American "revolutionary."
I like the easy tone and the near-supplicatory way in which the author is almost pleading to be understood. However, it's not entirely clear what his fundamentalist views are or who the fundamentalist is: America, or Pakistan.