The Reluctant Fundamentalist

by Mohsin Hamid | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 9780151013043 Global Overview for this book
Registered by Secretariat of Carlsbad, California USA on 1/25/2008
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Secretariat from Carlsbad, California USA on Friday, January 25, 2008
A very intense and powerful book, with a perfect ending. This slim novel is told in a very unusual manner as a one-sided conversation, which increases the feelings of tension within the reader. The writing is masterful and very evocative. The protagonist, Changez (an excellent name for him since he changes a great deal throughout the story – such as being a chameleon at Princeton and at work, all the while feeling like an outsider), speaks with both disdain and wonder of the U. S. I dare not say any more about the plot because so little would give away so much in this book. I loved the cover art which shows Changez behind the flags of both Pakistan and the U.S. But is he hiding behind them or is he peeking out?? There are many wonderful passages in this book, but here are a few I loved:

“I thought about this. As I have already told you, I did not grow up in poverty. But I did grow up with a poor boy’s sense of longing, in my case not for what my family had never had, but for what we had had and lost. Some of my relatives held on to imagined memories the way homeless people hold onto lottery tickets. Nostalgiawas their crack cocaine, if you will, and my childhood was littered with the consequences of their addiction: unserviceable debts, squabbles over inheritances, the odd alcoholic or suicide.”

“American was gripped by a growing and self-righteous rage in those weeks of September and October as I cavorted about with Erica; the mighty host I had expected of your country was duly raised and dispatched—but homeward, towards my family in Pakistan. When I spoke to them on the telephone, my mother was frightened, my brother was angry, and my father was stoical—this would all pass he said. I found reassurance in my father’s views, and I dressed myself in them as though they were my own.”

“I thought of Erica. It occurred to me that my attempts to communicate with her might have failed in part because I did not know where I stood on so many issues of consequence; I lacked a stable core. I was not certain where I belonged—in New York, in Lahore, in both, in neither—and for this reason, when she reached out to me for help, I had nothing of substance to give her.”

Released 16 yrs ago (1/26/2008 UTC) at A Bookcrosser in A BookCrosser, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases

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Given to PokPok because I think she'll enjoy this one.

Journal Entry 3 by PokPok at Panera Bread, 401 Vista Village Dr. in Vista, California USA on Sunday, June 1, 2014

Released 9 yrs ago (6/2/2014 UTC) at Panera Bread, 401 Vista Village Dr. in Vista, California USA

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