As a society,you were unwilling to reflect upon the shared pain that united you with those who attacked you. You retreated into myths of your own difference,assumptions of your own superiority. And you acted out these beliefs on the stage of the world,so that the entire planet was rocked by the repercussions of your tantrums,not least my family,now facing war thousands of miles away.
'Excuse me,sir,but may I be of assistance Ah,I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard. I am a lover of America ...'So speaks the mysterious stranger at a Lahore cafe as dusk settles. Invited to join him for tea,you learn his name and what led this speaker of immaculate English to seek you out. For he is more worldy than you might expect; better travelled and better educated. He knows the West better than you do. And as he tells you his story,of how he embraced the Western dream - and a Western woman - and how both betrayed him,so the night darkens. Then the true reason for your meeting becomes abundantly clear ...Challenging,mysterious and thrillingly tense,Mohsin Hamid's masterly The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a vital read teeming with questions and ideas about some of the most pressing issues of today's globalised,fractured world. Mohsin Hamid's fictionhas been translated into over 30 languages,received numerous awards,and been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He has contributed essays and short stories to publications such as theGuardian,The New York Times,Financial Times,Granta,andParis Review. Born and mostly raised in Lahore,he spent part of his childhood in California,studied at Princeton University and Harvard Law School,and has since lived between Lahore,London,and New York.'Masterful ...A multi-layered and thoroughly gripping book,which works as a poignant love story,a powerful dissection of how US imperialist machinations have turned so many people against the world's superpower - and as a thriller that subtly ratchets up the nerve-jangling tension towards an explosive ending'Metro'Beautifully written...more exciting than any thriller I've read for a long time'Philip Pullman'A brilliant book'Kiran Desai'Admirably spare and amazingly exciting'Rachel Cooke,New StatesmanPublisher: Penguin Books LtdISBN: 9780141029542Number of pages: 224Weight: 159 gDimensions: 198 x 129 x 14 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
A profoundly contemporary story about civil wars,unstable countries and refugees pouring to the cities of the West... beautifully written,with the ghost of Camus hovering at the edge of the frame
Mohsin Hamid
Award-winning Pakistani author.
Visit the Mohsin Hamid author page
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