A review by andrea0301
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

4.0

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.