I approached the book with some trepidation. I am not particularly fond of authors from the sub continent who write in English. I often find their narrative overtly lyrical, pretentiously mystical, and deliberately desi. But, so many people had told me so many good things about the novel that I succumbed. After purchasing the book, it lay on my table for three weeks, pristine in its cellophane wrapper. Running out of stuff to read, i opened it two days ago – and the book enthralled me from the first line.
I liked the sense of minimalism in writing. No unnecessary adjectives or adverbs. No takeoffs into the mystical / philosophical nature of eastern life. And no justifications for anything. It is a narrative that is shorn of pretense. The story is a monologue between the main protagonist Changez and an unseen American. And the monologue is an explanation of why a 20 something, ambitious, and brilliant young man from Princeton – who is expected to reach the top of his profession in the US – packs up and goes back home to be a teacher at the university.
Changez is very much a product of today. Someone who is very comfortable in his skin. Who neither makes apologies for his country, nor is his ‘culture’ in your face. He could be any of the friends that we have in the west, who are cosmopolitan – who feel equally comfortable in both worlds. And then disaster strikes. 9/11 happens.And Changez – like many we know – is appalled at his momentary sense of joy and satisfaction when the towers come down. And, this proves to be the turning point in his life.
At the time of 9/11, I was working at Zee at that time and we were at Chintamani Plaza. The first floor was full of television sets. And I was walking out for a meeting. I was stopped by this bunch of collegues huddled around a TV watching the footage of the planes ploughing into the WTC. At that time someone said – they bombed it, they have guts – we will never be able to do something like that. Even in a place like India, in a modern, cosmopolitan, broadcast environment, there was this satisfaction that the towers came down. “now they know how we feel” was a common response one heard. And, [tag]Mohsin Ahmed[/tag]’s articulation of the satisfaction that Changez feels while enjoying a drink in a hotel room in Manila is an echo of similar sentiments in Mumbai.
9/11 brings down more than the towers. It crumbles Changez’s life. His girlfriend – who is emotionally damaged – recedes further into depression. Changez finds himself isolated from his professional ‘bretheren’ and his well constructed life begins to unravel until an encounter with an old man who loves books.
‘[tag]The Reluctant Fundamentalist[/tag]’ is not a book that glorifies fundamentalism. Nor is it one that calls for violence. There is no good or bad. There just is. Even when Changez makes a seemingly anti-American statement it is tinged with a sense of embarrassment that we all feel when we behave badly.
Read the book – it is definitely worth a buy.
Thanks for the review, being similarly suspicious of desis writing in English, did not really feel the urge to read it.
The monologue narrative of the book suggests that it is patterned on Camus’s The Fall.
>there was this satisfaction that the towers came down
Despite a new generation that is growing up in an era when India’s relations with the US are much better- till the 1980s the Soviet Union was seen as India’s friend, not the US, I wonder if some of that suspicion, envy, dislike or even a secular hatred, remains.
unfortunately haven’t read the fall.
don’t think that it is a hatred for the US. there has never been that kind of dislike of the Americans even in the 1970’s – you didn’t even see the kind of anti americanism you saw in europe.
this was more a feeling that — when ‘they’ bombed us or used terror , you called them freedom fighters — now see what ‘they’ do to you. much more of ‘ab pata chala un logon ko’ the way we feel than serves you right! if that makes sense 🙂
The anti- americanism was very much there on the left- and I guess I had too many leftists friends!
yes it was — but not to the extent of wishing all of america and americans dead. or to the extent where American tourists or nationals got attacked.
I studied in england and i was apalled at the bad manners of the anti american movement.
it is possible to oppose a government’s policies without wishing for everyone in the country dead or ill …..