I have always found it tough to adhere to a rather old and supposedly wise saying “Never judge a book by it’s cover” While browsing through the shelves at any bookstore it’s the cover of the book that catches my instant fancy as much as the title or the author’s name.
So keeping up with my habit & the lingering curiosity and(dare I say) fascination I have developed for the scorned souls of the world, who have taken up hatred as their one point agenda, I couldn’t help but pick up “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”. Again it was the cover that attracted me. It was a split screen of a face. The first one centered around the right eye, mellow & melancholic, the second one with the left eye, steely and shrewd. This could only mean one thing, conversionof the painful kind.
Changez is a typical South Asian(or for that matter, third world) immigrant in the US., Wide eyed and all too eager to embrace the *American Dream. Enrolled into Princeton on a merit scholarship he has had to part with his family in Pakistan in his search for **the good life. Taking all the culture shocks and the strangeness of his new environment in his stride almost effortlessly, he sets about his studies in a very particular and diligent manner. This brings him the just reward of being hired by a top New York Firm at the end of his course which seems like a dream come true to him. For a 22 year old, he gleefully revels in this passport to money and status that he has been offered with.
His excellence continues at his workplace where he impresses one and all.In the meantime he also meets a special someone, Erica. On a holiday trip to Italy they meet each other and the friendship blossoms afterwards.Changez, although a Pakistani, takes a lot of pride in blending seamlessly with the resident crowd in New York(in the immediate aftermath of 9/11).He attains the “blue eyed boy of his boss, Jim” status in a matter of months by virtue of his hard work and talent. He also impresses Erica’s parents.
This is when the US war on terror ushers in devastation in Afghanistan and fear of the unknown in Pakistan. As Changez comes home for a 2- week holiday he is moved by the scared faces. This is when the seeds of intense soul searching are planted in his mind and life starts to look more than just a pursuit of pleasures. To make matters worse he finds himself in an odd position in Erica’s life where she, although likes him can’t forget the first love of her life. Confusion reigns supreme in his mind for some time till an advice from the unlikeliest of sources pushes him over the threshold and he makes his choice.
Mohsin Hamid, a Pakistani and a Princetonian himself has taken an intense love affair and an ideological conquest and woven his story around them. although the former clearly holds centrestage.The autobiographical traces are unmistakably evident(as was the case with Khalid Hosseini in the Kite Runner).The whole of the book is actually an anecdote(akin to the White Tiger) by Changez, which he describes to an American stranger, (of whom we get to know very little) in Lahore. In doing so, I suspect, Mohsin has addressed this book to the whole of West with the purpose of showing it(the Western world) a mirror it prefers to conveniently forget. But that doesn’t mean he has resorted to West-Bashing(a favorite sport of the subcontinent).He has given the compassionate and understanding Westerner, his due credit. The only dampener is the ending which left me with a sense of incompleteness and anticlimax. It’s an engrossing read nevertheless, mostly because of a one dimensional story telling approach which prevents any distractions whatsoever.