The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The Reluctant Fundamentalist
by Mohsin Hamid

• Business area: consultancy
  
• Country: US/Pakistan
• Language level: medium
  

Changez, an ambitious young Pakistani, leaves his home for the US, where he succeeds at Princeton University and gets a lucrative job at a top New York consultancy firm. He is in love with the city, in love with his freedom, in love with his lifestyle and in love with Erica, a beautiful young writer. Then comes 9/11, and everything changes. Changez loses his job and returns to Pakistan, where the novel takes place. On a warm evening in Lahore, Changez invites a mysterious American to sit down for dinner with him. In a beautifully written monologue, he tells his silent dinner partner of his feelings about America before and after 9/11, of his journey to becoming the reluctant fundamentalist of the title. This is a thought-provoking novel about national and cultural identity, and a very good read, despite a rather irritating ending.

Penguin, ISBN 978-0-241-14370-4

www.sprachenshop.de

• Excerpt