About the Author: Mohsin Hamid spent his early life and schooling in the United States. He returned to Pakistan with his family until the age of 18 when he came back to the USA to finish his studies. He continues his studies and graduates from Princeton University having drafted his first novel. After attempting to finalise his novel in Pakistan, he resumes his studies at Harvard Law School where he obtains a corporate law degree. Finding law boring he resumes his novel writing and paying off his student loans by working as a management consultant and takes three months sabbatical a year to write. He moves th London and stays for far longer than the initial intention of one year. He starts his family here and now shares his time between London, Lahore, USA and the Mediterranean. He describes himself as a 'mongrel' and has dual nationality.
The Plot; Mohsin describes a novel as 'a mans conversation with himself'. This novel is written in exactly that style. It is suggested that it may be semi- autobiographical with some parallels regarding the main characters early life. The character Changez is a somewhat troubled soul who falls in love with a girl Erica, who is mourning the death of her child hood sweetheart. After several attempts to form this relationship he eventually persuades her to imagine him as her dead lover Chris. Although Changez has some satisfaction with this it has a catastrophic impact on the Ericas mental health. Changez returns to New York have built himself a successful career to discover that the girl is listed as missing. With this and the rising persecution of apparent Pakistanis in the US post 9/11 he grows a beard in solidarity and he fleas his job back to Lahore and works at the University. His experience and insight in world issues gains his admiration among students. As a result he becomes a mentor to large groups of students on various issues. He and his students actively participate in demonstrations against policies which were detrimental to the sovereignty of Pakistan. In spite of his nonviolent stance, a relatively unknown student gets apprehended for an assassination attempt on an American representative. This brings the spotlight on Changez where he criticizes the policies of USA. This act makes people surrounding him think that someone might be sent to intimidate him or worse.
The main body of the book is in the style of a dramatic monologue. Both Deborah and Rolf enjoyed it although neither would recommend it. The stranger referred to in the book, who was it? Was it an assassin, was it America as he had been known to criticise US policies? The ending was left open to the point where the violence developed in the mind of the reader. What was the glint of metal that was referred to, was it a weapon? How much was the continuation of the story after open ending of the book influenced by stereotypes and an individual's perspective of the situation? Steve suggested that as he had been living the American dream how much was he trying to understand Pakistan. Do the circumstances date the book? Cathrine said it was thought provoking, how much was the character secretly pleased about 9/11? Karen thought the writing was superb, was Erica America? It was considered a clever and well written book, subject is accurate, is he a reluctant fundamentalist but actually is and what happened at the end?
Thank you to Cathrine and Charles for hosting this group this evening.
The book selections are:
Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach
The Yellow Birds - Kevin Powers
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce
Wonder - RJ Palacio
The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker
The selected book is: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce
