utter randomonium

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid: I’m not sure how to describe this book, really. It’s told almost in second person, with the narrator telling you, the reader/his American dinner companion, the story of his time in America. It’s even interrupted frequently with references to the waiter, the food, and the other patrons of the cafe. This adds to the realism but on the whole the experience was rather strange. The narrator, Changez, attends Princeton and lands a fabulous job immediately after graduation. Then on September 11 his world turns upside down and suddenly he’s focusing more on his Pakistani heritage than his American future. The tale was rather engaging, and I read it quickly, but I still have absolutely no idea what happened at the end. I even re-read the last chapter to see if I missed anything, but I’m still confused. Oh well.

Also posted on BookCrossing.