Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Top positive review

Anti or Pro US - I still don't know

Reviewed in Canada on July 31, 2013

The book's engaging style of talking to an unidentified listener is provocative. It provides a good look at the subtle discrimination that exists in the US (and elsewhere) for an exemplary foreign student and how it leads him to return to his home country. But under what circumstances? The reader must confront the realities of the protagonist's experiences and determine the degree to which validity exists for his actions taken. It is a brief but thoughtful telling of life in the global world. Will it ever be possible to mix cultures satisfactorily?

One person found this helpful

Top critical review

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Ted Gregory

Very much enjoyed the writer's voice and perspective throughout

Reviewed in Canada on September 8, 2017

Very much enjoyed the writer's voice and perspective throughout. He left just enough to our own imagination to make the plot line quite gripping.

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From Canada

Ted Gregory

Very much enjoyed the writer's voice and perspective throughout

Reviewed in Canada on September 8, 2017

Verified Purchase

Very much enjoyed the writer's voice and perspective throughout. He left just enough to our own imagination to make the plot line quite gripping.

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Mary E. McEwan

Very short

Reviewed in Canada on August 17, 2013

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well written, short, but not really a book I liked all that well. I had expected more from the book and the ending

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From other countries

Roman Clodia

A compelling read, but lacks subtlety

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 27, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is one of those books that I found very readable but which, on thinking about it later, feels less subtle and insightful than I wanted.

The artifice of the 200 page monologue can get a bit tiresome in places, and the too-obvious symbolism of names - Changez embedding the concept of change with perhaps a hint of Genghis?; (Am)Erica caught up in her nostalgia for a lost past leading to a self-harm that also affects the people around her - can make the story and characters a bit simplistic. Changez is hugely naive for a young man studying at Princeton in the late 1990s, surely? and the 'twist' of what 'fundamentalism' means within the context of the story a bit tricksy.

Despite these issues, this is a compelling quick read, easily gulped down in a single sitting. There was only one point where Hamid, for me, said something via Changez that was more nuanced: when he commented on how American exceptionalism can itself be a form of self-harm:

"As a society, you were unwilling to reflect upon the shared pain that united you with those who attacked you. You retreated into myths of your own difference, assumptions of your own superiority. And you acted out these beliefs on the stage of the world, so that the entire planet was rocked by the repercussions of your tantrums"

So my second Hamid (after Exit West), and my second 3-star - I think his narrative tricksiness is not quite to my taste.

3 people found this helpful

Didn't pack the punch I hoped for

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 19, 2021

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The writing style isn't one that I loved, one of the reasons that it took me longer than expected to get through this, that being said there were more moments in the book that made me pause.

Overall, the book lacked depth and potency. This book has some great ideas but somehow the execution fell somewhat short, and the read wasn't the page-turner I was expecting. Some of the cultural prejudices and misconceptions, that exist today and are highlighted in the book were relatable but I still finished feeling there was something lacking in the narrative/tale.

harri181

very readable book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 29, 2009

Verified Purchase

The presentation of this book reflects current views where Muslims are being looked on the whole as terrorists and even Price Harry was known to call his fellow soldier as a "Paki" and Prince Charles address his Polo playing friend as "Sooty"....since 9/11 terrorists are being equated with Muslims....the vast majority of Mulsims are nice, friendly generous people (I am NOT a muslim)....but constant finger pointing at Muslims makes them seek and solicit their own kind than merge with the population of western countries....the British lived aloof in their "clubs" in colonial days making them eventually lose all their colonies!! Having said that asians are a successful bunch and it would do well to live together happily ..Muslims in turn would also do well to merge with population like Jews have done successfully for centuries...even though skin colour could be an issue in white countries!! This whole story takes one through the narrators experiences in the USA as an evident muslim!! Today Barrack Obama is the American President and its good to be black!!

Paul B

An entertaining fable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 13, 2013

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There were times when I thought this book was a clever, powerful parable for our times but at other times I found it to be a little too slick and unengaging. It is a bold but risky strategy to use a second person narrative as inevitably you feel there is a chunk of the story missing. What we do learn of the target of the narrative feels like a very partial impression of an American tourist/businessman but that speaks volumes
About the alienation between the two worlds which the narrator tried but failed to conquer.

Amazon Customer

Interesting perspective

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 7, 2020

Verified Purchase

Didn’t know what to expect but a well written book from a different perspective than the normal American vs Muslim perspective.

Dr. L. Alberg

Interesting, but...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2013

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The book is worth reading because of the subject matter that is so relevant to our time. However, I felt I was at a rather arid academic lecture and little was revealed that I did not already know. Perhaps the characters were too contrived and devoid of personality to make them real.

Jen

Confusing book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2014

Verified Purchase

I'm quite confused with this book.
I though it was well written but the storyline seems to lack of something somehow. I don't know why, or what.
I guess it was intentional to let the story unfinished like that. But i felt cheated. I read the whole book, awaiting something to happen, or something to explain details of the story. But nothing

Alan and Jan

Might have been great but I could just not get into it due ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2014

Verified Purchase

Might have been great but I could just not get into it due to the 'single solo voice. But readers group found it really good so......

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5 star		58%
4 star		25%
3 star		11%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

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