The Reluctant Fundamentalist

i was surprised at how hooked i was with this book right off the bat. mostly read this because it's a "book everyone's read" so wasn't expecting to be that wowed. loved the formatting of the storytelling, through a mostly one-sided conversation at a cafe, and really liked the ambiguous ending. could have done away with the romance parts as it didn't gain traction in my interest, but otherwise an impactful, relevant read, even so many years later.

Honestly not sure what to say for this review other than I loved this book. It is a brave, unforgiving novel and Hamid is unafraid to confront the enigma that is the United States. I finished this book months ago but I am still thinking about it. For such a short read it is really impactful. Hamid makes great points without being too heavy-handed and the way he formatted the novel is genius. It opens a dialogue between the U.S. and other countries (especially South Asian ones) while centering the non-American perspective, all while keeping up an engaging plot. I love that the identities/motivations of Changez, the main character, and the American are never confirmed and are instead left open to interpretation by the reader. If you want a short, unique reading experience, this is a good book for you.

A quick read, a lot of it probably went right over my head and I'm not sure I liked the style if writing, a good story though.