The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an engulfing, interesting, and disturbing novel. It tells the story of a young Princeton graduate, Chengez, seemingly on top of the world when the attacks on the World Trade Centers happen. He is forced to confront what his Middle-Eastern heritage means in a post-9/11 world. We also meet Erica, whose life is woven inextricably with Chengez's. While she is arguably the flattest character in the novel, we see what unreasonable loss can do and how it's possible never to recoup. While her character is recovering from an event that took place far earlier than 9/11, Hamid forces the loss in New York onto her psyche, showing us that sometimes we can't go back to ease or sanity in the face of large-scale grief. Like Chengez, the reader is eventually shut-out of her world as well.

The novel is sparse and rests on the conversation between two men. In the silences between their words the reader becomes truly engaged. One thing is for sure, The Reluctant Fundamentalist pulls you in and forces you to have an opinion. This is no neutral book, but it isn't quite as simple as taking sides. What stands out about Hamid's story is his ability to paint a complex character that can't be forced inside an argument of right vs. wrong. Aside from this one , I haven't read a novel that resonates so specifically in the Zeitgeist of the last ten years.