The Reluctant Fundamentalist

"I like Pakistanis. But the elite has raped the place well and good, right?...You guys have got a serious problem with fundamentalism."'

"Excuse me sir, but may I be of assistance?"

A controversial and thought provoking 2007 novel by Mohsin Hamad.

Changez is living an immigrant's dream in America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by an elite, all-American firm. He lives on the energy and vibrancy of New York City and his budding romance with high class would-be novelist Erica - the complete opposite of his life back in Lahore, Pakistan, where his family is sinking back into poverty.

But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his view of America, and America's view of him, have changed overnight. His loyalties are called into question, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, freedom or love.

Tropes used in The Reluctant Fundamentalist include:

• Ambiguously Gay - Jim.
• Ambiguous Situation - why is Changez talking to the American in the café? Why is the American listening? What does he do to Changez at the end?
• Becoming the Mask - Changez comes close to this, before having an epiphany when he hears about the Janissaries.
• Beard of Sorrow - Changez grows one after coming back from Lahore.
• Bolivian Army Ending - Maybe.
• Broken Bird - Erica.
• Cryptic Conversation - Interesting in that the American never actually says anything. Changez is cryptic enough for the both of them.
• Description Porn - Don't ask Changez about flowers.
• Eagle Land - America is sometimes portrayed as this.
• The Film of the Book - in production. With Kiefer Sutherland as Jim.
• The Fundamentalist - Averted. No main character in the novel is full on about religion or lifestyle - America as a whole after 9/11 may count as this though. It may have changed for Changez by the end.
• Lemony Narrator - Changez gets quite flowery with his language.
• Perspective Flip - this is one of the few novels about 9/11 that doesn't have an American or, at least, Western protagonist.
• Meaningful Name - Erica for America, Changez either for 'Ghenghis' or 'Changes.'
  • Underwood Samson and Erica - United States of America
  • Juan-Buatista becomes John the Baptist.
• Never Found the Body - Erica.
• No Ending
• Significant Monogram - Underwood Samson.
• Write What You Know - Hamad is from Pakistan and graduated Princeton in 1993.
• War On Terror - begins around page 99.