The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

 

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid is a novel that presents itself with an interesting story. It is a story of an identity crisis as the protagonist strives to search his real identity, and to found the real self he goes through a lot. The protagonist of the novel is Changez, a Pakistani living in the vicinity of America. He gets his higher education from America and achieves a position in a multinational company. But even after getting all these leverages, he is still considered as a threat because of his Pakistani origin. He feels misfit in America on various occasions but, especially on the airport when all the other employees of his company went to their destinations and, he was stopped at immigration for a thorough investigation because of his Pakistani descend. He fell in love with an American girl Erica. 

Erica's presence warns him of her being smitten for life by her first love. Changez helplessly moves into an emotional abyss. She fails to find solace in his sincere intentions as she had already got it once, declaring, "my home was a guy with long skinny finger."

Changez appears to be one in his many shades of the character in the plot. He breaks apart when Erica commits suicide. He then loses all his connections with American society. Changez then came back to Pakistan and started teaching there. Well, all this happens as an impact of the 9/11 attacks and the effect on him as a Muslim (although he is not practicing Muslim) is pretty bad. There is also a Hollywood film of the same name. This journey of Changez makes this novel a unique one. That's why I really liked this book. Anyhow, What was your reaction when you read it? Or how do you like it?