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Jayden Wang

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The Reluctant Fundamentalist

by Mohsin Hamid

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in January 2026

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Jayden Wang said: " The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a novel by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid. It's a story of a young Pakistani man who attended Princeton University, and it's more about his love, experiences, and the “American dream” he had during his time in the US. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a novel by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid. It's a story of a young Pakistani man who attended Princeton University, and it's more about his love, experiences, and the “American dream” he had during his time in the US. One of the advantages of this book is that it's written in a form of monologue, where only Changez’s dialogue is recorded within the book, but not the American sitting in front of him. The story is told by Changez in the form of a talk during a meal with an American man at a tea shop in Lahore. He talks about everything in his American life, from the attendance to Pirnceton, to interviewing and hiring from Underwood Samson, an evaluation company, all the way to the end of his US experience. Since the story of Changez was set in the early 2000s, 911 had a great impact on the whole book and Changez. For example, after 911, he started to be treated as an outsider iofhe country because of his appearance and struggled to fit in. This book is in the historical fiction genre as it specifically describes the Middle Eastern people living in America through the early 2000s.

The writing style of the book is one of its very distinctive advantages, with two reasons. Firstly, the monologue with only Changez talking could confuse the reader at first, but when the plot is going on, there would be hints like Changez’s response to help readers indicate what the American expressed, which creates a lot of suspense and could motivate the reader’s creative thinking. Secondly, by moving back and forth from the past and Lahore, although the shift could be confusing sometimes, but oftenly there is more meaning behind everything happening back in Lahore, whether as the movement, people appearing, or even food and animals could mean something. One significant example is when bats begin to appear in Lahore while Changez was telling his story after 911, although he likes America, works here, and lives here, but because of his appearance, everything was different for him. Once in an airport, Changez remembered that he “dispatched for a secondary inspection in a room where I sat on a metal bench” (Hamid, pg.75). The bats are animals that are not technically birds; they are mammals, but they fly, which ended up being in a stage in-between, indicating what Changez is also facing. There are also hidden “wordplays” within the book from Hamid, for example, Changez’s company, Underwood Samson, is a well-paid, wealthy evaluation company. It has the initial of US, which symbolizes the United States of America, focusing on the “cover works”, which cares about the appearance rather than the “inside”, evaluating a company only gives it a number, but leaves everything else behind. Through the second-half pages, the author writes a lot about Changez’s struggle within himself. During trips to Chile and Pakistan, not only us readers, but even Changez himself didn’t “recognize” himself anymore, as he says “I was looking about me with the eyes of a foreigner, and not just any foreigner,m but that particular type of entitled and empathetic American…” (Hamid pg.124). These benefit makes the book engaging to readers, while reflecting some of the most cruel truth of the world in the 2000s and even today.

The story is very engaging, with a half-open ending. The author does not tell the reader directly about events happening after the story, but Hamid is an author who likes to “mislead” readers with stereotypes, which forces readers to think “outside of the box”, to think of more possibilities rather than mindlessly believe in their opinion. This book is a reflection of one of the most important problems nowadays, about how a culture reforms a person, even just for a few years. It also shows how individuals are affected when a global event is happening, like 911 and Changez. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book, with a 5 out of 5 due to its speciality, to people who like to read romance, monologue, and even biography. ...more "

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(page 121 of 184)
"I see that Changez keeps thinking about Erica, even when he tries not to, while also facing suspicion and unfair treatment after 9/11. Fear spreads fast, and normal places start to feel unsafe. On the other hand, I found that Erica is hard to understand because she is still stuck on Chris. Since their relationship isn’t growing and Changez feels isolated, I wonder how his feelings and view of the world will change." — Feb 13, 2026 04:46PM

Jan 30, 2026 08:46PM · see review