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Our Reader's Guide to The Reluctant Fundamentalist
A Spellbinding Portrait of a Face Changed by Terror.

A psychological thriller that spans continents and cultures, The Reluctant Fundamentalist takes us from the privileged confines of Princeton University to the anxious streets of contemporary Pakistan; from the sun-baked Greek island of Santorini to a sanitarium in the Hudson Valley; from the galleries of downtown Manhattan to the highest echelons of American finance. It's a journey we take in less than two hundred pages, and without leaving, until the very end, a small table at a modest tearoom in Lahore, Pakistan — and yet it is a journey that may reveal more about the human realities of the post-9/11 world than a shelf of thick political treatises.

At the table sit two men: a young Pakistani named Changez and an unnamed American. Only Changez speaks, and his mesmerizing monologue relates his story, beginning with his happy days at Princeton and continuing through his initial success as a well-paid financial analyst. His budding romance with Erica, a beautiful fellow Princetonian, runs in counterpoint to the early promise of his career.

Then come the attacks of September 11. Over the next few months, slowly but inexorably, the innocence of Changez's ambition is shadowed by his experience of the unexpected political present — and by his altered understanding of his Pakistani past. As his career crumbles and Erica is consumed by her own demons, Changez's sense of his identity fractures under the strain of conflicting impulses of pride, passion, and loyalty. He returns to his homeland, and the complexity of his new life there is reflected in the alternating currents of his voice — ingratiating, insinuating, articulate, respectful, blunt, affecting, and, last but not least, sinister — as he leads his companion toward an uncertain yet ominous conclusion.

An extraordinary work of empathy and imagination, Mohsin Hamid's novel vividly dramatizes the turmoil and terror of today's world in a single unforgettable voice.

“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.

How did I know you were American? No, not by the color of your skin…. Instead, it was your bearing that allowed me to identify you, and I do not mean that as an insult, for I see your face has hardened, but merely as an observation.”

— from the opening of The Reluctant Fundamentalist

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About the Author

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is Mohsin Hamid's second novel. His first, the award-winning Moth Smoke, was selected by Discover Great New Writers and published to critical acclaim in 2000. Joyce Carol Oates called it "both an irresistibly engaging adventure and a searching portrait of contemporary young people in Pakistan."

Hamid was born in 1971 in Lahore, Pakistan, where he grew up. After attending Princeton University and Harvard Law School, he spent several years working as a management consultant in New York and as a freelance journalist in Lahore. Currently, he resides primarily in London.

Begun more than twelve months before 9/11, The Reluctant Fundamentalist went through several drafts over the course of the next seven years. "I had spent much of the previous decade living in America," Hamid has said in an interview, "and I wanted to explore in fiction my own growing desire to leave. It was confusing territory for me, because I loved — and still love — so much about America…." "Of course," he continued, "The Reluctant Fundamentalist is not the story of me or of my life. But I do know what it is like to go to Princeton, to work in corporate New York, and to go back to Lahore as war with India looms."

* Get the most out of The Reluctant Fundamentalist with these reading group discussion questions.
  1. At the beginning of the book, Changez says that his companion's "bearing" gives him away as an American. What does Changez mean by this? What are his deeper implications?
  2. What do we learn about the American who sits across the table from Changez? How does Hamid convey this information? What do we never learn about the American? Consider how what we don't know about him influences our understanding of both Changez's monologue and the author's intent.
  3. Who is Jim, and why does he take such a liking to Changez? What do they have in common? Is his sympathy for Changez genuine?
  4. In chapter 5, Changez is in a hotel in Manila, packing his suitcase and watching television, when he sees the towers of the World Trade Center collapse. "And then I smiled," he confesses. Explore this scene as the turning point of the novel — in terms of plot, character, scope, and tone.
  5. In Chile, Changez befriends the head of the publishing company his firm is there to value. Why are the two men drawn to each other? Why has Changez suddenly become so disinterested in his work? Who were the janissaries? Why does their history resonate so strongly with Changez?
  6. Discuss the two meanings of "fundamentalist" Hamid's title plays on — the first religious, the second suggested by Underwood Samson's business commitment to "Focus on the fundamentals." What do the different meanings suggest about the novel's themes?
  7. The Reluctant Fundamentalist turns out to be quite a page-turner — a political thriller that builds to a memorable conclusion. What exactly happens at the end of the novel? What clues or foreshadowings tipped you off as to how the book would end? Why does Changez tell this stranger his story?
  8. Since 9/11, there has been a growing trend in contemporary fiction to write about the tragedy of that day and its aftermath. Compare The Reluctant Fundamentalist with some other "9/11 novels" you have read. What sets it apart or makes it unique?
* Praise for The Reluctant Fundamentalist

FROM OUR BOOKSELLERS
"Crisp and compelling…with an ending that will certainly encourage discussion…. A quick read that will have a long, lingering impact."
—Melissa Willits, Carmel, IN

"Truly a work of genius.... Nothing is black and white in this world and Hamid doesn't let us forget that."
—Diane Carr, Chestnut Hill, MA

"Controversial and eye-opening. I finished the book in one sitting."
—Tim Baldwin, Houston, TX

"A terrifying look at the very thin line between us and them."
—Sandra Guerfi, White Plains, NY

"Insightful, timely, and unsettling. This book puts a human face on a currently demonized culture."
—Teresa Patek, Crystal Lake, IL

FROM WRITERS AND REVIEWERS
"I read Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist with increasing admiration…. [T]his is more exciting than any thriller I've read for a long time, as well as being a subtle and elegant analysis of the state of our world today. I was enormously impressed."
—Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass

"A brilliant book. With spooky restraint and masterful control, Hamid unpicks the underpinnings of the most recent episode of distrust between East and West…. The narrative is balanced by a love as powerful as the sinister forces gathering, even when it recedes into a phantom of hope."
—Kiran Desai, author of The Inheritance of Loss

"…[B]uilds with masterfully controlled irony and suspense. A superb cautionary tale, and a grim reminder of the continuing cost of ethnic profiling, miscommunication and confrontation."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Hamid's second novel succeeds so well it begs the question-what other narrative format than a sustained monologue could have been as appropriate?"
—Booklist