The Book Vipers discussion

This is the thread for the December Fiction read of The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.

Spoilers are allowed on this thread.

I very much enjoyed this novel. The pace was spot on and I quickly was fully immersed in the story. A powerful telling of an emotional journey, that ended a little too questionably for me. I prefer a more definite ending but I can't fault the book for that!

I read the ending a few times to make sure I got it right.

I liked the ending a lot. In real life things are never tied up neatly, and the suspense that he leaves you in as to what happen next is very powerful.
The narrators relationship with America was incredibly complex. At first he loved it, but events and his relationship made him think again. As you say anyone with basic humanity with abhor what happened on 911, but there are people from all cultures who are not like that.

I liked the ending too. :) Now maybe someone more eloquent than me can discuss the fundamentalist business plan he followed at work and fundamentalism.

I haven't listened to this podcast yet, in case it has spoilers in it, but you might find it interesting, Sandy. It's Mohsin Hamid in conversation with Harriet Gilbert in the BBC World Bookclub.

If you can't listen to it from this link, then it is on i-tunes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/...

You'll need to scroll down through the list to get the right one. I tried linking directly to it, but it just wanted to play it and I'm not ready to listen yet!

I've heard another, shorter, interview with Mohsin Hamid, can't remember now if it was BBC Radio 4 Bookclub or the Guardian books podcast (will have a search through my list and link it). He's absolutely lovely, charming and witty.

Sometimes authors are a bit dry and humourless (naming no names, but looking at you Yann Martell) but MH is well worth a listen to.

This is the other interview with Mohsin Hamid and James Naughtie on the BBC Radio 4 Bookclub. Also available on i-tunes if this link doesn't work. It's the one I have listened to. It's not really spoiler-ish but there is a question about the ending.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/...

I don't think the smile was about the horrific deaths that came with the destruction, but more the representation of America's power and dominance being struck at its core. He himself was abhorred by his initial reaction so I don't think it is as clear cut as the word hatred. I do agree that people from different cultures will inevitably react differently to world events, but implying they lack basic humanity might create ripples here!

i don't mean anything harsh in it :) just that it is a powerful and emotive issue.

It does appear to be a book which can bring up strong feelings.

We do need to feel free to discuss it fully on here but if you are worried about something then it can be hidden in a spoiler wrapping if you prefer.

Just to clarify, I don't feel particularly strongly about the book, just that other folk might. Reading the discussion above, I was writing my interpretation of the character. That's all.

My comment was a general one, for everyone, not addressed just to you Charlotte :)

:)

Finished this afternoon. Review will follow.

I thought it was very good. 4 stars.

It is isn't it. Beautifully written too

It came very close to 5 stars. I enjoyed it immensely. It certainly got me thinking. And the ending leaves a lot of questions too.

Who do you think the man was? I have ideas.

And who really was Changez? He wasn't telling us everything that's for sure.

So much to think about.

Having listened to a couple of interviews with Mohsin Hamid this morning (the podcasts I mentioned above), it was interesting to discover that he completed his manuscript for The Reluctant Fundamentalist and delivered it to his publishers in July 2001, ie two months prior to 911. So the references to 911 were put in afterwards.

I had felt, as I was reading it, that it didn't quite add up with Changez's character. After all he isn't a religious man, and the fundamentalism relates mainly to his business valuation work and his growing disenchantment with living and working in America, when what he really wanted was to return home to Pakistan. So, some significant changes must have been made to the manuscript post 911 to incorporate it into the story.

Another point that cropped up in the interviews, and was one which had occurred to me whilst reading, was how much symbolism there was in the novel. Someone asked whether Erica was really symbolic of America. And Mohsin Hamid did suggest that it could be seen as such. He certainly didn't deny it. Adds another interesting layer to the story.

My review is here.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished this today, and like you Elizabeth had been holding off on the podcasts sitting tantalisingly on my iPod. I will listen with interest. I have written a short initial reaction to it, but will likely revisit when I have listened to the interviews as well.

Super though, so powerful.

The film is available to rent, today only, for 99p from blinkbox (UK only I think). You can rent today and have up to 30 days to watch.

I had no idea there even was a film!

I finished too, at 5.30am today...! Fantastic book. Beautifully written and rich with symbolism. I thought the ambiguous ending was just right for a novel that was full of loose ends.

5.30am!!!!!

Cor Lisa, that's dedication to the cause (or motherhood with a very small baby!)

I had to return my copy to the library today and a little bit of me was quite sad to drop it into that big book bin of returns. I've been thinking about it a lot since I finished it 2 or 3 days ago, and I still think it was an absolute cracker of a book.

Just loved the narration style, that completely brought it alive to me - story then, story now, intertwining and reflecting each other, building the tension, brilliant.

And as for the ending, normally I get a bit hacked off with a "who knows" but this time I like the fact that I've thought about several different scenarios.

It is beautifully written as well. The narrator is eloquent, and attentive without being patronising. There is still an implied threat to his motives as well, without any violence taking place in the book.

I agree with you both. The narration is pitch perfect - contrasting it with something like Room, which occasionally jarred in Jack's voice (with inconsistencies and occasional over maturity), the narrative here is incredibly tight and believable. And given 9/11 was added later, it seems seamless.

I read a few GoodReads reviews and it seems to have had a mixed reception in terms of its worldview of East vs West - with some accusing it of being like a sledgehammer while others saying it is too subtle/limited! Actually, I can sort of appreciate both arguments but for me it wasn't really trying to be a polemic. Changed is a more complex character.

Should say 'Changez is a more complex character' - autocorrect hell!

Just finished. Beautiful narration & very thought provoking. I remember after 9/11 being very upset that we were going to attack Afghanistan for the crimes of what were most likely extremists. All I could think of was that innocents in two countries would now have their lives destroyed. Erica as a symbol of America is intriguing & something that did not occur to me. Her refusal to leave the nostalgia of the past prevented her from participating in the present and ultimately caused her to fade away. Hope this is not our future.

I'm reading another of Mohsin Hamid's novels, How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia at the moment.

It's a quick read but I don't think it's as good as The Reluctant Fundamentalist. The main characters are not named and so it's hard to engage with them.

I guess I'm in the minority, but The Reluctant Fundamentalist fell flat for me. I liked some of Hamid's ideas, but not his execution. Too much telling and not enough showing - it felt like I was being repeatedly hit by a Creative Writing 101 sledgehammer. In the end, everything felt like a cop out. He raises plenty of questions and doesn't seem brave enough to answer any of them. Although I can be a big fan of ambiguity when done in the right way (like in films like Caché and L'Avventura), and I obviously don't believe the author has the key to world peace, I don't think he had enough skill to artfully deal with the subject matter.

What I did like was Hamid's outsider approach to America's allure, the seduction of money and ultimately his disillusionment with American culture. However, Changez's ambiguous status on his return to Pakistan plays out like Erica's retreat into a made-up world based on her past - no one is truly moving in the future here.

In the end, I feel like this is a book that got a lot of attention because it was the right content for the right time, but not necessarily because it is that great of a book.

Some good points there Kai. Changez is a complex and confused character, mainly because he wanted to accept the American dream, but ultimately his faith showed the contradictions that this path led to.

If it were not for this club I probably would have missed the book. And I am really glad I have not.
It is written in a really engaging manner. I was drawn into it from the first pages.
The symbolism in this book is really powerful, especially comparisons with the nature.
The firefly that tries to outshine the city lights, the bats that are creepy to the American, but not so to Changez.
However, I was a little disappointed with the ending. Not the very ending, but Changez's life after leaving the US. This part felt a bit rushed and uncertain. As Kai has mentioned there is way too much ambiguity about Changez's feelings in the last part of the book.

This book gives a voice to the people you see in the news coverage from Pakistan and its neighbors. But in the end it tells more about the US than Pakistan.

As a small side note, if you are sent to "silence" someone, would you sit with the person all day listening to his life story?

I've just finished this (bit belated found it in a charity shop just before Christmas!)

Not rightly sure what happened in the end, any one more intelligent than me care to explain?

It's a bit of an ambiguous ending isn't it? We're never that sure whether Changez is about to be assassinated, or whether he's leading his assassin/interrogator into a trap. Could be either, I felt. Or neither.

A clever ending, but maybe would have benefited from more clarity.

I've read How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia which I found a little disappointing, coming straight after this one. Still have Moth Smoke to read.

I think Mohsin Hamid is a superb story-teller. Both novels are short, and spare - not a wasted word. Nothing annoys me more than a novel that waffles on for too long!

I find Stephen King to be a bit of a waffler.

I did enjoy this book though, like you say he's a good story-teller and even though the style was new to me, it made it all the more enjoyable.

Only 2-3 months late, but I just read this book over the past couple of days. I really enjoyed it for the most part, I liked the technique of making it a monologue, with no dialogue from his American companion. I also really engaged with the writing and liked the slower story telling pace, while at the same time I found it a quick read. There were parts that I didn't enjoy quite so much, mostly with Erica, which I felt didn't lead anywhere, plus I was hoping for more of Changez's life back in Pakistan, but the story seemed to drift off by then. I really did like the ambiguity of the ending...was Changez the bad guy, or the American, or neither of them.

Regarding when this was written, I read in an interview with Hamid, that although the first copy was finished shortly before 911, he extensively rewrote over the next 7 years!