The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Summary)

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00:00The Reluctant Fundamentalist Brief Summary

00:04Mohsen Hamad is one of the most popular modern writers from Pakistan.

00:09His highly successful and hugely acclaimed novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist was first

00:15published in 2007.

00:18This novel is a perfect example of a dramatic monologue.

00:22It is also said to be autotagetic.

00:26The whole story covers the time period of a single evening in an outdoor Lahore cafe.

00:33Brief Summer The book opens in a street of Lahore, Pakistan.

00:38Changes, a Pakistani man, comes across an American visitor.

00:44The American is looking for a place to have a good cup of tea.

00:48Changes offers to direct him to that place.

00:51He leads that visitor to a cafe and orders their tea.

00:56While waiting for the tea, Changes begins to tell the American visitor a story about

01:01his life.

01:02He particularly describes the time period while he was living in the United States.

01:09While narrating his story, he intermittently tells about the Pakistani history and the

01:14places in Lahore.

01:16He also tells about the society of Lahore.

01:20It is Changes's native city.

01:23He is proud of his native city and expresses his love for the place.

01:28The American does not feel easy, however, he continues to listen to Changes's story.

01:35Changes tells the unnamed American visitor that he used to be a brilliant student.

01:41Having got his bachelor's degree in finance, he joined a consultancy firm named Underwood

01:47Samson.

01:49He used to work there as an analyst.

01:52Having graduated from Princeton University, he and some of his college friends vacationed

01:58in Greece.

02:00During that vacation, he came across Erica, who was an aspiring writer.

02:05He got attracted to her, but he was not able to express his feelings to her because she

02:10her childhood sweetheart had died of lung cancer and she was still grieving Chris's

02:16death.

02:18Changes and Erica go on their first date.

02:21He moves forward and decides to have sex with Erica, but she is not aroused because she

02:26is emotionally attached to Chris.

02:29They do not meet each other for some time.

02:32They don't contact each other, but after some days they have their second date.

02:38After that date, they have sex.

02:41Changes tells her to close her eyes and imagine that she is with Chris.

02:46Their relationship begins to develop and Changes is satisfied with it, but everything does

02:52not go well because the thoughts of Chris are between them.

02:56Changes notices that Erica is physically weak and she does not seem to be very comfortable.

03:03Changes goes to Chile to fulfill an assignment.

03:06Having come back from Chile, he goes to meet Erica, but he learns that she has already

03:12left the institution.

03:14It is also revealed that her clothes had been found near the Hudson River.

03:19He learns that she has been declared a missing person.

03:23Her body has not been found.

03:25A person named Jim happens to have recruited Changes to begin his professional life.

03:32His peers are highly impressed by his work.

03:35Jim in particular is highly impressed.

03:38He respects Changes very much.

03:42Recognizing his professional skills, the firm sends Changes on offshore assignments in the

03:48Philippines and Valparaiso, Chile.

03:51In Chile, he feels quite distracted owing to the recent global developments.

03:57One day, he visits the preserved home of the late left-wing poet Pablo Neruda.

04:03He realizes that he is a servant of the American empire that has been interfering and manipulating

04:10Pakistan for a long time.

04:12He comes back to New York leaving his incomplete assignment.

04:17Eventually, he loses his job.

04:21Changes tells the American stranger that when the attacks took place on 11th of September,

04:27his initial reaction was of pleasure, but he says that it may sound despicable.

04:33He says that Pakistanis began to be suspected after the tragedy.

04:38Since Changes was a highly qualified person and he belonged to a privileged class of the

04:44society, he was neither abused nor detained for questioning.

04:48However, he noticed that the Pakistanis began to be treated differently.

04:54He decided to show his solidarity with other Pakistanis in New York.

05:00Having come back from Chile, he started to grow a beard.

05:04After the parliament attack in India, there was a standoff between Pakistan and India.

05:11He further says that having seen the American response to that situation, he concluded that

05:17Pakistan was being used as a pawn.

05:20Since he had lost his job and his visa was going to expire soon, he decided to go back

05:26to Pakistan.

05:28He came back to Lahore, Pakistan.

05:31Having come back to Pakistan, he began to work as a professor of finance at the local

05:37university in Lahore.

05:39Since he had a lot of experience and insight in world issues, his students were highly

05:45impressed and they admired him.

05:48He began to mentor a number of students in that university.

05:52He and his students got actively involved in the national politics.

05:57They participated in demonstrations against the government policies that were said to

06:02be harmful to the sovereignty of the country.

06:05Although Changes constantly advocated non-violence, an unknown student was arrested for trying

06:11to assassinate an American representative.

06:15That incident brought Changes into spotlight.

06:19He had to appear on several television interviews.

06:23He spoke openly and criticized the militarism of the foreign police of the United States.

06:30The people close to him began to think that he might be intimidated in near future by

06:34the government or its agencies.

06:37While telling his story, Changes realizes that the American stranger sitting with him

06:43looks scared of their surroundings.

06:46Changes notices his satellite phone that he keeps using for sending messages.

06:52He also notices a bulge under his clothing, assuming that it is a gun.

06:58Changes accompanies the American stranger back to his hotel.

07:02Suddenly, the American gets quite suspicious that he is in danger.

07:08He puts his hand into his pocket.

07:10Actually, he is looking for his business cards.

07:15The author does not disclose that was there in the American stranger's pocket.

07:20The story ends, leaving the reader with a guess whether the American stranger was a

07:25CIA agent, who had probably met Changes to kill him.

07:30The readers might also think that Changes had colluded with the waiter from that cafe

07:35to harm that American stranger.

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