His resentment is at least in part self-loathing, directed at the American he’d been on his way to becoming. But Hamid’s novel, while it contains a few such moments, is distinguished by its portrayal of Changez’s class aspirations and inner struggle. It seems to have come as a surprise even to himself, and while hardly endearing, it sets his tale in motion.Ī less sophisticated author might have told a one-note story in which an immigrant’s experiences of discrimination and ignorance cause his alienation. He appears to have been something of an enigma until his reaction to the attacks–a sudden smile–pierces the shell.
Fresh out of Princeton, he was living in New York City and working as a financial analyst. In 2001, as he explains, Changez was hardly a radical. That monologue is the substance of Hamid’s elegant and chilling little novel. Changez happens upon the American in Lahore, invites him to tea and tells him the story of his life in the months just before and after the attacks. Yes, despicable as it may sound, my initial reaction was to be remarkably pleased.” “I stared as one–and then the other–of the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center collapsed. While on a business trip to Manila, he turned on the television in his room and saw the towers fall. (Apr.When I was a third of the way through Mohsin Hamid’s second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the narrator, a young Pakistani man named Changez, tells the American stranger about how he first learned of the destruction of the World Trade Center.
Simultaneous release with the Harcourt hardcover (Reviews, Dec. But the casual tone of Changez telling his life story translates perfectly with the help of Bhabha’s velvet voice. Though lighter, his voice exudes a stoic resonance instead of a feminine one. He lapses when it comes to vocalizing women. His American accent comes in the form of a Midwestern accent with a confident-almost arrogant-lilt. His gentle demeanor captures the courteous and polite manner of Changez. Bhabha’s English-influenced Pakistani accent proves soothing and inviting for listeners. In relating this journey from loving to loathing of all things American, Changez speaks to a nameless and speechless American whom he encounters in the marketplace of his home city, Lahore, Pakistan. As the protagonist, Changez, finds moderate business success and romantic love in New York City, his heritage and identity will be lost in a sea of subtle and blatant bigotry as well as international politics. Hamid grabs hold of the American Dream as seen through the eyes of a young Princeton grad from Pakistan in a post-9/11 world.
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