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The Reluctant Fundamentalist
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Feb 5, 2025 7:02 AM

Author:Mohsin Hamid,Mohsin Hamid

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Reluctant Fundamentalist written and read by Mohsin Hamid.

'Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard. I am a lover of America . . . '

So speaks the mysterious stranger at a Lahore cafe as dusk settles. Invited to join him for tea, you learn his name and what led this speaker of immaculate English to seek you out. For he is more worldy than you might expect; better travelled and better educated. He knows the West better than you do. And as he tells you his story, of how he embraced the Western dream -- and a Western woman -- and how both betrayed him, so the night darkens. Then the true reason for your meeting becomes abundantly clear . . .

'Masterful . . . A poignant love story and a thriller that subtly ratchets up the nerve-jangling tension towards an explosive ending' Metro

Reviews

A profoundly contemporary story about civil wars, unstable countries and refugees pouring to the cities of the West... beautifully written, with the ghost of Camus hovering at the edge of the frame

—— New Statesman

It’s an entertaining read, and fills out areas in the film to give you a fulfilling Star Wars novel... The real treat of this adaptation is the writing style of Fry. Easy, smooth and rhythmic to read, the confidence in the material just oozes off the page and if he isn’t given another adaptation, or better still a series of his own adventures, then there’s no justice

—— Fantha Tracks

Jason Fry does what a tie-in novel should do with competence and enthusiasm – 4/5 stars

—— Den of Geek US

A triumphant literary telling of The Last Jedi, written with the passion of a seasoned life-long fan ... A terrific novelisation of the film that will certainly thrill fans of the wider Star Wars story

—— Top 10 Films blog

a must-read for Star Wars fans

—— Nudge

Compelling … Fry’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi captures the spirit of the movie

—— Flickering Myth

A quality companion piece, worth the three- month wait. Or as Yoda put it might, a page turner

—— TOTAL FILM

A lot of fun

—— SFX

The latest thriller from the master of the genre

—— Choice

A quietly gripping deception of some of the ordinary, messy, interwoven lives that Lucy and her mother discussed in the earlier book

—— Radio Times

Strout, always good, just keeps getting better

—— Vogue US

In her latest work, Strout achieves new levels of masterful storytelling.

—— Publisher's Weekly

[F]ull of searing insight into the darkest corners of the human spirit... 'Anything Is Possible' is both sweeping in scope and incredibly introspective. That delicate balance is what makes its content so sharp and compulsively readable... With assuredness, compassion and utmost grace, her words and characters remind us that in life anything is actually possible

—— San Francisco Chronicle

The epic scope within seemingly modest confines recalls Strout's Pulitzer Prize winner, Olive Kitteridge, and her ability to discern vulnerabilities buried beneath bad behavior is as acute as ever. Another powerful examination of painfully human ambiguities and ambivalences-this gifted writer just keeps getting better.

—— Kirkus Reviews

If you miss the charmingly eccentric and completely relatable characters from Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout's best-selling My Name is Lucy Barton, you'll be happily reunited with them in Strout's smart and soulful Anything is Possible

—— Elle US

Strout once again shows her talent for adroitly uncovering what makes ordinary people tick

—— Booklist

Strout pierces the inner worlds of these characters' most private behaviors, illuminating the emotional conflicts and pure joy of being human, of finding oneself in the search for the American dream

—— Nylon

Amgash, Illinois, will be familiar to Elizabeth Strout fans as the hometown of the protagonist of her 2016 novel, My Name is Lucy Barton. In Anything is Possible... Lucy's legend looms large... but no prior reading is required to enjoy Strout's powerful writing and empathy

—— Real Simple

We devoured Strout's last novel, My Name Is Lucy Barton, and her latest-which is loosely linked to Lucy Barton-is no different. Told from multiple points of view, it's about residents of a small town in Illinois struggling with the most relatable and quotidian problems... you'll swear you know these characters. (In fact, it reminds us a bit of another of Strout's masterpieces, the excellent Olive Kitteridge.)

—— PureWow

Elizabeth Strout's prose is like words doing jazz

—— Rachel Joyce

I am deeply impressed. Writing of this quality comes from a commitment to listening, from a perfect attunement to the human condition, from an attention to reality so exact that it goes beyond a skill and becomes a virtue.

—— Hilary Mantel on 'My Name is Lucy Barton'

A powerful storyteller immersed in the nuances of human relationships

—— Observer on 'My Name is Lucy Barton'

Tender, elegiac, this is the story of a single life that also manages to tell the story of many

—— Independent on 'My Name is Lucy Barton'

The writing is wrenchingly lovely. It almost always is with Strout, whether she's knitting metaphors or summarizing, with agonizing economy, whole episodes.

—— New York Times

There are not many novelists out there producing writing as good as this

—— Daily Mail

Down to every sentence, it's wise, touching and quietly powerful

—— Grazia

As always, Strout treats even the most difficult characters with rare understanding. "It made me feel much less alone," says on reader of Lucy's memoir. The same will surely be said of Anything Is Possible

—— People (Book of the Week)

Gorgeous... Strout is in that special company of writers like Richard Ford, Stewart O'Nan and Richard Russo, who write simply about ordinary lives and, in so doing, make us readers see the beauty of both their worn and rough surfaces and what lies beneath

—— Maureen Corrigan, NPR / Fresh Air

Highly enjoyable

—— Sunday Times

A subtle, disturbing and touching book that is a miracle of wisdom and perception

—— Mail on Sunday

A beautifully told story of small-town Americans dealing with big life issues

—— Good Housekeeping

Utterly beautiful in the way that these characters were flawed to their core yet brimful of keeping it together no matter what...I loved it, there wasn't a moment when I didn't believe it.

—— Barb Jungr , BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review

In all her novels, including this one, "the kindness of strangers is a fierce sun than can pierce the cloud"

—— The Week

Every chapter has depth, nuances, restrained descriptions and luminous characterisation. A wonder of a book

—— i Newspaper

Elizabeth Strout is a novelist in whose hands anything really is possible, and if you've yet to discover her, make this holiday the one you do

—— Daily Mail

This glimmering, profound, beautiful novel is modern American writing at its best'

—— Clare Allfree

Just as understated and as full of horrifyingly elisions and surprising epiphanies as its predecessor

—— TLS Books of the Year

This audacious novel is about small-town characters struggling to make sense of past family traumas

—— New York Times Books of the Year

Strout turns her clear, incisive gaze on the intricacies and betrayals of small town life

—— Maggie O'Farrell

Anything is Possible is predictably great because it's written by Elizabeth Strout, and brilliantly unpredictable - because it is written by Elizabeth Strout

—— Roddy Doyle
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