Just another Muslimah…..

So, I have finally managed to get through one of the books I mentioned in my previous post. And that is only because I had such bad migraines all week that by Wednesday I couldnt take it any more and went to see my GP. Now knowing that I had a LONG wait til my turn, I took along Mohsin Hamids’ “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” to wile away the hours. Now I am a pretty fast reader and got through 3/4s of the way through before I was called in to see the GP.

At this point the story started well. American man sitting at a restaurant stall, approached by a bearded Pakistani who starts talking to the American about his life. His life at Princeton University… his first job…his first love, And how he ended back in Pakistan. The story starts well enough, good use of language and descriptions which paints a picture in the readers mind.

As the story unfolds, the reader starts to understand that whilst the young pakistani man is telling his story, theres something sinister happening in the present time.

But as I read to the last page (this afternoon on my way home from University), I found that the ending was lacking. The build up for the ending was not enough. The last paragraph did not answer the questions that were buzzing around my head. Now I dont know if thats the way the author planned it, but for me it just left me confused.

Overall I did enjoy reading The Reluctant Fundamentalist but I have definately read other books that were more enjoyable, more suspenseful, more dramatic than this. I hope that the next novel by Hamid is something a little more flavoursome and spicy!!!