Two men. Two cities. One conversation.

Do you remember the day of 9/11, when the Towers fell down? And how much exactly did it change your life?

Those were the thoughts that cannot help but run through a reader’s mind as they become the unseen and unheard third party in an afternoon of food, lounging and conversation between Changez, a young Pakistani and an unnamed American.

Set entirely in a monologue by Changez, the way the story unfolds is brilliantly done by Mohsin Hamid. So much so, you cannot help but feel that you are right there in their midst, sitting in the bazaar in Lahore and listening to Changez’s life story.

A smart young man, he was given all the opportunities in the world beyond his homeland. Educated at Princeton, shortlisted for an interview with a top-notch international valuation firm (and eventually gaining the coveted employment), Changez was in all sense of the phrase – Living the American Dream. He even had an American girlfriend, also from Princeton who lived in the penthouse of a downtown apartment building in New York, although as the book unfolds, we find that even the pretty, intelligent and rich ones don’t always lead a life on a bed of roses.

He was good at what he did, and his somehow misplaced lack of self-confidence made him go further than anyone else. Yet when 9/11 happened, his world changed simply because he looked the way he did and the origins of his passport.

One would think that because he had it all, he would have gone all out to ensure that the misconception of a certain race of people post 9/11 did not touch him. Yet, in the ensuing divulgement of thoughts, the reader cannot help but paint Changez as somewhat ‘ungrateful’ to the land that bestowed upon him golden opportunities.

As the world’s larger nations wielded its strength (and modern swords) in the aftermath wrath on his home country, Changez starts unravelling the threads that held his American life together; marked by his wilful act of growing his beard as a form of protest and progressing on to alienating himself from his colleagues (who were not very warming to him in any event). In essence, because of his semi-conscious rage at the looming atrocities that threatened Pakistan, and his pride that someone dared to take a stand against his adopted country, Changez allowed his career suicidal thoughts to take shape and form, which ultimately leads to him being fired from his job, and his right to live in America.

An expatriate acquaintance of mine had once remarked that no matter how many generations removed one is as a migrant, you would always hold strong to the roots of your origins. And this rang true in the case of Changez. While it may appear that Changez was no longer welcomed in America, in truth, America was no longer welcomed in his heart instead.

It was most difficult for me to categorise this book, where did it belong? And what would I say would be its main theme? A patriotic tale of a young man finding his roots after living abroad? A morose recounting of a victim of preconceived notions and generalisation?  Or simply a marriage that never should have been in the first instance?

After four hours of flipping pages (yes, this book is that short!) I can only come to one conclusion: The Reluctant Fundamentalist is indeed a love-triangle story akin to that of a young man, his arranged bride and his true love. As with all love stories, true love does indeed prevail but not before leaving a bitter aftertaste at the back of the throat for the one who was caught in between.

Shortlisted in 2007 for the Booker Prize, and winning in 2008 both the South Bank Show Annual Award for Literature as well as the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, it is no surprise that this second novel by Hamid is a shortlist contender in the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for 2009.

Book information:

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Author: Mohsin Hamid

Publisher: Penguin Published (192 pages)

ISBN: 9780141036021