Reviews from Amazon;

Marta Simonetti-Whitford, Guardian Books of the Year
"If a book had to be praised for its merits in defining the anxieties of our post-9/11 society, then Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist would be the one to win"

Philip Pullman
"I read Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist with increasing admiration. It is beautifully written - what a joy it is to find such intelligent prose, such clarity of thought and exposition - and superbly constructed. The author has managed to tighten the screw of suspense almost without our being aware it is happening, and the result is a tale of enormous tension. I read a lot of thrillers - or rather I start reading a lot of thrillers, and put most of them down - but this is more exciting than any thriller I've read for a long time, as well as being a subtle and elegant analysis of the state of our world today. I was enormously impressed"

Initially I thought this book was a bit slow, but I can wholeheartedley agree with the reviews on Amazon, this IS a thriller, albeit a subtle one.

I will offer this as a bookray.

I am setting this up as a bookray and the order is as follows;

blakkat-BNE (UK Shipping)- London, UK
lidlekiwi (UK Shipping) - London, UK
ETMadrid (No Shipping Preference)- London, UK
voveryte (No Shipping Preference)- London, UK
PussInBooks (Europe Shipping) - Dunstable, UK
bookmaniac70 (Europe Shipping)- Sofia, Bulgaria


And then it's up to you!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to blakkat-BNE on the start of its ray.

Received in the mail today :) Thank you so much for sharing, GingerGeoff! I'm looking forward to reading it though I should probably finish my current book first *sigh*

Hi, this book arrived today! I am looking forward to reading it! Thank you so much for sending it to me!

I finished this book last night.
I don't think I really understood the book at all.
I didn't like how the main character felt happiness when 9/11 occurred.

I can understand the characters worries over America's foreign policies and how scared he was about how his country might be at war soon.

I didn't like the end.... was it a gun? was it a business card holder?

Why did the main character decide to tell a random American his story?

As for the end, he seemed to have swapped emotional places with Erica.

I feel I must have missed the main point of this book. I am surprised that it was short listed for the Man Booker Prize.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I will be posting this book shortly to ETMadrid.
Hammersmith Broadway post box. (london, UK)

The book arrived today, along with another. I'm in the middle of yet another... so I'll read it as soon as I can. Thank you.

P.S. This was lucky to have got delivered, by the looks of the envelope: a pre-paid (ie freepost)1st class envelope pre-addressed to a company, with just a sticker over the address and no postage paid. That's not something I've ever tried, but have, I admit, wondered about doing. No wonder it took a while to cross London! Perhaps a bit risky though... I'd have expected the Post Office to return to sender.

I do think this is perceptively written and subtly and intelligently explores the climate of paranoia brought about by recent events. I'm sure that many in the protagonist's position, young students and professionals, faced internal dilemmas and crises of their own, exacerbated by the radically-fast change in attitude of contemporaries and those in authority. The distrust events nurtured (fuelled by politicians) is in my view one of the greatest tragedies, something we must all strive to repair. It's interesting what this book achieves without entering into the quagmire of religious discourse.

I do have a bit of an issue with the format of the book - such large print, with excessively effusive quotes... it is really a short story presented as a novel.

Received today! Thanks so much ETMadrid for hand-delivering the book!! And thanks gingergeoff for including me into this ray! It's next in line after my current read, but it looks it shouldn't take too long to finish both books...

Finished! I wanted to read this book for a long time and maybe expected too much of it, and at the end I was a bit disappointed. I got annoyed with Changez from the first pages and I couldn't believe him being a lover of America. He just got a chance to study there and to live in New York, but that's it. He was still loving his culture more (wearing kurta to the dinner party, shopping in Pakistani deli) than enjoying western culture (though I must admit he praises New York's cosmopolitan side,but that's about it). His love affair (?) with Erica lacked romance and passion, even if I understand Erica being such a complex and difficult personality.
After September events and main character's thoughts and feelings about it, him growing his beard made me uneasy and I sensed that something was wrong and this is when I got annoyed with this American tourist (businessman?, spy?) for not noticing this.
The last few pages were quite good and you could sense this growing uneasiness and fear and the author left for readers to guess how it overall ended.
So it was nice experience all in all, the book was quite a quick and easy read, otherwise I would have been much much more annoyed with it.

Thanks gingergeoff for a chance to read it!

PussInBooks asked to be skipped,as she got her own copy, so the book travels to bookmaniac70 today

I received the book a couple of days ago, so I sat today evening and finished it in one hour.
As a whole,I liked the book. Perhaps it was planned like a more fundamental post-9/11 September account but I comprehended it mainly as a personal story.For me it was more a story of a lost love than a political one. At the main core of his disappointment and disillusion with America was the tragic end of his unfulfilled love. It was a strange coincidence that with deterioration of his beloved deteriorated also his professional reputation.The love part of the story sounded most honest and deeply felt.I liked the subtlety with which he was describing Erica and their relationship. Indeed it should have been very painful to lose a beloved woman in such grave mental condition.I think he was angry at America just as he was angry at Erica for abandoning him and escaping into the world of her fantasies.
Although it annoyed me at the beginning, at the end I thought that this fictional talk was not such a bad idea, after all. It left you to guess what was this metal thing from the stranger`s pocket- was it just his cigarettes` holder,or a weapon of hate?

Thanks a lot for sharing this book and making it come to Bulgaria!
As I`m the last person in the ray, I shall figure out some way of continuing its journey.

I`m very glad to organise a second bookray for this novel.

THE LIST OF PARTICIPANTS:

nancynova- US,int.
tamichan-Japan,int.
bananabriana- Canada, int.
Danielle23- UK, EU preferred
Tubereader- Luxembourg, EU preferred,int.OK
allbookedup- Austria, EU shipping

------------------------
FEW NOTES ABOUT BOOKRAY

It`s highly recommended that you:

1) journal the book within few days after receiving it

2) read the book within a month (appr.)

3) update your reading status if you need to keep it longer

4) make a journal entry with your experience with the book:-))

Please do not stall the bookray!

I wish everyone happy reading!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to first participant in the continued bookray.

Book got here today! It's #5 in the rays that I have - but I am a fast reader and have a week's vacation coming up shortly. I looked through the journal entries - very varied in their opinions, so I'm looking forward to see if my opinion is different as an American who vividly remembers 9/11.

I will post again when I start the book.

Started the book today, since i'm first in the list. PM'd tamichan for her addy, so as soon as I'm done, this can be sent along.

8/28/09
The book was not what I expected. It was written in a very different style, which was appropriate for the book - the protagonist is the sole voice in the book, talking to an American during an extended dinner in Pakistan & recounting a portion of his life.

I thought it was much more about his unease with figuring out Erica, the cultural clashes that led him to leave America and return to Pakistan, and his "settling" into Pakistan, which was his comfort zone. I'm not sure how much he stirred up the militants that were his students - was he responsible for leading them, just showing them the way or just providing clues? And at the end, was he part of an ambush directed at him? Was the American being ambushed? Or were they just targetted by thugs? Or did nothing happen? The last paragraph was really a twist.

Overall, I really liked the book. It's now on it's way to Japan for the next reader.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed to Tamichan to continue it's journey

Hi! I got the book yesterday! Thank you nancynova!
I have a couple bookring books to read, but I think I can
get started on this pretty soon!

I finished the book and contacted the next person on the list,
so I will send it off as soon as I hear back from her!

p.s. I really enjoyed the book!