The Reluctant Fundamentalist

By: Mohsin Hamid

Narrated by: Mohsin Hamid

Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize
A New York Times bestseller
A Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year
A New York Times Notable Book

“Extreme times call for extreme reactions, extreme writing. Hamid has done something extraordinary with this novel.”—Washington Post

At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful encounter . . .
Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by an elite valuation firm. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his relationship with Erica shifting. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.

Must Read

An intimate civilizational clash. This is Hamid and this best. Elegant identity juggling prose, deep subtext, and powerful message that engages the reader as part of the story.

Diverse perspectives and compelling story

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Narrator’s voice is so soothing, felt like sitting at same dinner table. The story was captivating, Changis turmoil parallel with US& Pakistan relations, both bring it home on many levels.
For everyone who immigrated, the story will resonate on how one loses their wholeness. Your identity is always halved between your homeland and new home, stranger now to both.
I recommend this book over movie, esp to young adults to relate to human stories above all the broadcast-tailored news on nation’s ill-wishers. Humans before politics.

Thrilling yet gentle scary yet warm

A beautifully woven novel. Romantic and poignant. Brutal in its kindness . Narrated with substance in a powerful narration.

Could not stop listening to this story.

Beautifully read. An engrossing story that really makes one pause to think about racial bias.

A fascinating story

I love to hear from the perspective of a Pakistani in America during 9/11. I listened straight through without stopping, it was that compelling. Beautifully written, beautifully performed.