Reading Jolie’s thread about the Karachi Literature Festival and the various replies discussing authors and such rather got me thinking about a novel I read a while back. Personally, I was not terribly fond of it (but I won’t ramble about that just yet). I was curious, have any of you read The Reluctant Fundamentalist and if so, what did you think?
Re: Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist
No but watched the movie.
Re: Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist
It's just nicely written, everything else about it is bad.
Re: Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist
^Oddly enough, I did not like Hamid’s style of writing in this book. He seemed to overemphasise the most trivial of events, while failing to explain aspects which were actually relevant to the plot, such as the reasoning behind Changez’s drastic change in view and shift toward fundamentalism.
Apparently, the drastic change was brought about by a few trivial events, such as his failed relationship with Erica (a rather unstable woman he meets while on holiday in Greece), the fact that he faces some minor difficulties with US immigration as a result of his background, and that his colleagues at work don't much care for his new beard. While I suppose these events could drive someone who was already inclined towards fundamentalism further down that path, the protagonist did not demonstrate any inclination towards fundamentalism at any point and thus, when the shift does occur, it comes across as rather artificial and unconvincing.
Re: Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Heard about the novel when it was first published from a person who was extreme in his thoughts. As he liked it, I didn't give it a try, as I have already tried to read his 'Moth Smoke' and that was not my type. I don't like scripts like 'Khuda ke liye' which are hell bent to prove one side totally wrong.
Re: Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist
^I've read * Moth Smoke* as well and it wasn't my cup of tea either. I found his tone in that a bit pretentious and found most of the characters unsympathetic and rather illogical in their actions.
Re: Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist
I really enjoyed Moth Smoke *and therefore was looking forward to the *Reluctant Fundamentalist *but I really couldn't connect with Changez and so it was read with somewhat of an indifference. Jolie, you should read one of these - preferably the *Moth Smoke.
Re: Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist
^ Thank you for that, I will certainly try to get hold of Moth Smoke. Sounds interesting.
Re: Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist
^I've read * Moth Smoke* as well and it wasn't my cup of tea either. I found his tone in that a bit pretentious and found most of the characters unsympathetic and rather illogical in their actions.
Humans are often illogical in their actions
Re: Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist
It was an interesting read although a bit unconvincing, specially the transitional parts. Felt that the writer himself was suffering from the identity crises his protagonist went through the length of his book. I translated it into Urdu a couple of years ago for an online magazine. My only experience of this kind to date.
Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist
I really liked Moth Smoke, but couldn't really get into The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Re: Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Lucid hit the nail on the head... interesting read but unconvincing.
Movie was ok but lacked substance.