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Wednesday, October 3, 2007

a must-read

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. I finished it and immediately read it again, which I haven't done with a book in many moons. It's up for the Booker Prize and I hope it wins. It depicts the awkward, conflicting, passionate relationship a young Pakistani man has with a post-9/11 New York and, indeed, America. It's uncomfortable in places, and irritating in places, but clearly depicts the inner frustration of a young man desperate to forge an identity true for himself. There are some wonderful, pithy bits of prose, yet some overt metaphors and allegories that a child could identify; all in all, it is an intelligent and provocative book, and well worth a read. And perhaps a re-read.

Also reading: Paulo Coelho's Eleven Minutes (which came out in 2003, when I lived in Lisbon, as Onze Minutos, with a HUGE marketing campaign in Lisbon which got irritating after three months of seeing Coelho's face everywhere)...and the Rough Guides to Amsterdam and The Netherlands, as we'll be there Saturday for a week.

Oh, and the first draft is DONE!!! Giving it two weeks to simmer, and will print it out for the visual effect of a green or purple pen slicing through, page by page, desperate to keep my chin up as I read page after page of nonsense...

1 comment:

His Girl Friday said...

Hi, stumbled across your blog, loved the post on the ruins....and of course, I love rugby! :)
will be back when I have time to read more...