The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

I found Moth Smoke interesting because it was about Lahore and by a writer of Pakistani origin even though the plot was contrived, insights superficial and the prose laboured.

Still, I was looking forward to the Reluctant Fundamentalist. I had thought the writer might have matured into something more solid and deeper than what was on display in MS. But I am thoroughly disappointed. MH has evolved into a more contrived, more superficial and more laboured writer. The issues that the RF attempts to address are huge. Yet, we find a very superficial, very incomplete treatment of them....whether it is 9/11 or the protagonist`s internal (and some external) metamorphosis or the love affair (Erica conveniently disappears.....easily disposed of....no need to bother with anything deeper....no need to construct a plot in which things come to logical or natural conclusions).

The setting itself, (an American in a suit, all by himself, in a cafe (?) in Anarkali Bazaar ???????) is utterly ridiculous whether you have a magical realist`s license or a poet`s license or both together. The convenient tool employed to tell this story i.e the protagonist`s monologue is simply boring and unimaginative (though Princeton, he speaks Oxbridge). I think that this may well be this writer`s last book because it seems he neither has a genuine story in him to tell nor a point of view. The only remarkable thing he does is that he manages to make even a 112 page novel (paperback) boring and repetitive. As to why it is selling in the US: its called the ``Reluctant Fundamentalist``, talks about 9/11, is by a Pakistani and because Americans are stupid.

RE: #17: I would not be that harsh on either the writer or the American reader.
It is the Pakistani writer that needs to establish a line of communication with
the American reader, not the other way around. And I believe that Mohsin Hamid
has done that here.

RE: #3 : I am happy to note that I was present to see Bapsi Sidhwa promoting
Mohsin Hamid`s work at a Silicon Valley gathering a few years ago. I think that she
would like to see more Pakistani writers of English novels emerge.

RE: #5: I would like to renew Nadeem Aslam`s work. You can reach me at
my home email at: rsiddiqui@surewest.net if you have some of his work to share.

Re:#11: Have not heard from you in a while. Pakistani Restaurants are improving in Sacramento. We have a Mehran now and more coming.

RE: #14: I like the work of both Hanif Kureshi and Ayub Khan Din but I do not want the brickbats to start at my window for reviewing them (just kidding!).

ALL: The main reason why I went to the bookreading is that I enjoyed Moth Smoke
and frankly it is not every day that a Pakistani fiction writer makes it to any Bestseller List
here in the US. I also found Mohsin Hamid to be a pleasant person with social skills
unlike another a-hol-e that I met before he really got famous by selling his verses...

Ras

Mohsin Hamid cannot write. He had a partial story to tell in Moth Smoke, which he did. The remaining bits and pieces of his life are shoved onto Changez but he has been more unsuccessful than his protagonist to capture the moment.

Mr. Hamid, I am sure you were a decent consultant. However, it seems you have hit the 2nd novel bump. Hopefully, you can move on because of your loyal following from the 1st novel and actually reward them with some decent prose. Otherwise please leave these brilliant ideas to the professionals for execution.

This 2nd novel needed to be written, but it needed to be written from the cab driver`s perspective. It is really sad that you tried to make it about yourself, and even in that you failed. There is a reason it sometimes takes decades to compose an album or write a novel. You just cannot force inspiration.

RE: #19

``please leave these brilliant ideas to the professionals for execution.``


Who are these professionals?


Many of us have some good ideas but

writing an article is the best we can do

(and rather poorly in my case).

Successful Pakistani English writers are a rare breed possibly because Urdu

is so powefully rich.

The other writer who I was referring to in my last post came out of the Urdu realm

and in spite of his flaws, he is (in my opinion)

the best South Asian English writer to date.


By the way whatever happened to CHOWK`s temporal?
(We could use his expertise here)

On articles, go to Mohsin Hamid`s website and look for an article he wrote on

Shazia Sikandar. That is one reason I became a fan.

This young man has potential!


Ras