The author is Mohsin Hamid, an American Pakistani (a Princeton University and Harvard Law School graduate) whose first novel, Moth Smoke won a number of awards and was published in 10 languages. Impressive background. I first saw this book on a bookstore's shelve and was attracted to the intriguing cover. A man in white kurta under a beautifully carved (Moghul?) arch looking over a river to a city that looks like New York. He appears comfortable in his Asian element but he is looking longingly at the city of skyscrapers.
The whole book is the voice of Changez, talking to an uneasy American in a cafe in Lahore, Pakistan. It is like Changez talking to you, the reader. You are the American, sitting in front of him, listening to his stories.
Changez is a Pakistani with perfect American accent, went to Princeton University, graduated with flying colours and was accepted to work as analyst in a prestigious valuation company. Then he fell in love with Erica, a beautiful New York elite. But deep inside him he has this feeling of homesickness that later turned into anti-American thoughts. He gradually felt that he is equivalent to a Janissary (an infantry unit in the Ottoman Empire comprised of captured Christian male children), trained and given benefits to help destroy the Ottoman's enemy (which was their own homeland).
But the beauty of this novel is that without any action (guns/bombs/kickboxing etc) it still gives you gripping suspense. Why is Changez telling you the story of his life? And what makes you stay in the cafe to hear his story until the sun settles and the night darkens? Why the successful American Changez abandon his high paying New York job and return to Pakistan?
Changez's voice is probably the voices of millions of Muslims living in America post 9/11. Why reluctant? Maybe because Changez loves and hates America at the same time.
Fully recommended by me.
p/s don't read the reviews in Amazon before you read the book because the reviews are quite revealing.
The whole book is the voice of Changez, talking to an uneasy American in a cafe in Lahore, Pakistan. It is like Changez talking to you, the reader. You are the American, sitting in front of him, listening to his stories.
Changez is a Pakistani with perfect American accent, went to Princeton University, graduated with flying colours and was accepted to work as analyst in a prestigious valuation company. Then he fell in love with Erica, a beautiful New York elite. But deep inside him he has this feeling of homesickness that later turned into anti-American thoughts. He gradually felt that he is equivalent to a Janissary (an infantry unit in the Ottoman Empire comprised of captured Christian male children), trained and given benefits to help destroy the Ottoman's enemy (which was their own homeland).
But the beauty of this novel is that without any action (guns/bombs/kickboxing etc) it still gives you gripping suspense. Why is Changez telling you the story of his life? And what makes you stay in the cafe to hear his story until the sun settles and the night darkens? Why the successful American Changez abandon his high paying New York job and return to Pakistan?
Changez's voice is probably the voices of millions of Muslims living in America post 9/11. Why reluctant? Maybe because Changez loves and hates America at the same time.
Fully recommended by me.
p/s don't read the reviews in Amazon before you read the book because the reviews are quite revealing.