The Reluctant Fundamentalist

I spent quite a bit of time over the past couple of days ensconced in Borders ostensibly in an attempt to take advantage of their latest coupon offering 30% off of your total bill if you purchase three of more books. On Tuesday, I began reading The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, got hooked and finished the entire book at one sitting in Borders itself. On Thursday night I spent most of my time browsing around, eventually purchasing How We Survived Communism and Learned to Laugh by Slavenka Drakulic, At Large and At Small: Essays by Anne Fadiman and The Devil in Amber by Mark Gatiss.

The protagonist of the Reluctant Fundamentalist, Changez, hails from Pakistan. He manages to win a scholarship to Princeton and subsequently goes on to work for a highly selective and top notch New York corporate firm, Underwood Samsom, which specializes in the appraisal and valuation of companies that are the subject of hostile takeover bids. However, we first meet Changez in a very different setting - a restaurant and tea house in an old district of Lahore in Pakistan where he finds an American wandering the streets, invites him to the tea house and begins to tell him (and the reader) his story.

The story is fundamentally about a person first enticed by then disillusioned and disenchanted with America. The crucial turning point for both the protagonist and America is the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. Despite him having attended an American University and pursuing the American dream, Changez's immediate reaction to the twin towers falling is a momentary thrill and a sense that America deserved it. He is initially ashamed by this reaction but he is sent down a relentless path of questioning his relationship with America even as he observes the sudden upsurge of patriotism (in a flag bedecked New York) and suspicion against foreigners (when he starts to grow a beard). This is compounded as America invades Pakistan's near neighbour Afghanistan and his homeland is involved in a deadly nuclear standoff with India in which America is determined to stay neutral in order to avoid having to choose between two allies in their war on terror.

Hamid, a Pakistani who himself studied at an Ivy League university and worked on Wall Street, writes a novel that is both powerfully allegorical yet still remains very accessible and personal due to the easy and familiar tone of the narrator. September 11 is the fulcrum of the story because it initiates the changes in both the protagonist (whose name Changez is hardly subtle) and in the American psyche itself. In many ways, however, Hamid turns our expectation on its head. The fundamentalism in the title is as much the American corporate variety (Changez's firm repeatedly tells them to "keep to the fundamentals") as it's Islamic counterpart.

Another allegorical turn involves Changez's relationship with Erica, a rich, well-connected WASP New Yorker whom he falls for while on a post-graduation holiday (paid for by his signing on bonus). However, his relationship with Erica is as fragile and ephemeral as his relationship with America. Erica is caught up and cannot let go of the past, specifically her relationship with a close childhood friend turned lover who died of cancer. It is certainly no coincidence that Erica is a shortened form of (Am)Erica.

Final Verdict: This was definitely a very engaging novel. Hamid is able to create a powerful sense of drama and tension out of his premise, and the sense of one man questioning his pursuit of what may be a chimerical dream and questioning of his adopted values is often captivating. That said, Hamid's use of irony is often completely unsubtle to say the least as is his overall contention that America - and not the Islamists are the real fundamentalists. Ultimately, a hugely enjoyable read.