Book 6: Pakistan (English) – The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Moshin HAMID)

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. I noticed that you were looking for something; more than looking, in fact you seemed to be on a MISSION, and since I am both a native of this city and a speaker of your language, I thought I might offer you my services.

A wonderful, easy-to-read exploration of the different (and similar) way that Muslims/Pakistanis and Westerners/Americans see the world, and how a Pakistani who was quite assimilated in American society and understood and admired it, had an envied job and an American lover, saw it all fall apart after 9/11 and turned into… what did he turn into? Don’t let your preconceptions fool you. The book keeps the tension up throughout, though it basically consists of the narrator’s telling of his story, and leaves you with a cliffhanger. He recounts his biography to a shadowy American in Karachi (whose function the author leaves us to guess at) who, like his country, is both threatening and threatened. It is written in an unusual voice, the second person. Highly recommended.

Hamid, Moshin (1971-), The Reluctant Fundamentalist, London, Penguin, 2008 (originally 2007), ISBN 978-0-141-02954-2