Mohsin Hamid, the multitalented author of Moth Smoke, is at work on his second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (thanks, Soozy):

At a cafe table in Lahore, a Pakistani man begins the tale that has led to his fateful meeting with an uneasy American stranger. Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. He thrives on the energy of New York, his work at an elite firm, and his budding relationship. For a time, it seems that nothing will stand in the way of his meteoric rise to success. But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his relationship crumbling and his exalted status overturned. [Link]

Post 9/11, Hamid had been held in questioning rooms at JFK Airport in New York, and while it was never “nasty,” he explains that it made him feel both foreign and undesirable in the U.S. Now situated in London, he senses less fear against Muslims… [Link]

It created a splash at the London book fair:

Perhaps the most exciting new novel selling at the [London book] fair was The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, whose debut, Moth Smoke, won a Betty Trask Award. Reminiscent of Sándor Márai’s Embers, it opens in a café in Lahore, where a man tells how he is divided between east and west. Hamid was signed in the UK by Simon Prosser at Hamish Hamilton on the eve of the book fair, and went on to get US, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian and Danish deals. [Link]

With Moth Smoke, Hamid aimed to write one of the first Pakistani urban novels:

After growing up in Lahore, he took off for the U.S. to study. When he returned from college with “American eyes,” he began to see his hometown differently… “I haven’t seen the lives of young, educated urbanites portrayed in [Pakistani] fiction. I’ve always read writing that has a magical realism. I wanted to give those people a voice.,.” Moth Smoke was received well by audiences in the U.S. and was reviewed by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Chicago Tribune, and Esquire. [Link]

He thinks nuclear stalemate has its benefits:

He has been critical of President Pervez Musharraf’s so-called democracy… “I’m not pro-nuclear, but I think to an extent Pakistan and India having nuclear weapons has somewhat foreclosed the opportunity for war. If war is not an option, they have to look at other ways to solve this dispute.” [Link]

Hamid is hopeful that his first novel may be made into a movie, but says the novel is the refuge of the creative fringe:

… he has received word that Moth Smoke, which did well in India, might be made into an Indian film….

“… conversations are easier to begin through novels than movies, where the cost of production is much lower… I can’t imagine Hollywood paying to make my stories come alive on film, but I can see a publishing house putting down a much smaller amount to let that narrative come into being. So for people on the fringes, the novel is a very important form…” [Link]

Here’s Jhumpa Lahiri on Moth Smoke:

Mohsin Hamid’s first novel turns on a brutal hit-and-run accident involving a complex socioeconomic triangle… The chain of events, in which the reckless rich make messes that others have to clean up, brings to mind The Great Gatsby… behind the toxic haze emerges the emotional architecture of this trenchant novel: a lost friendship, a mother’s death, a broken marriage, a doomed love affair…

”Moth Smoke” is written in a lean, hip present tense. Amid Hamid’s lapidary prose are robust images that amplify the festering and the constriction Daru feels…. The playful array of voices and tones makes for an inventive ride, but the constant shifting of gears can be distracting, especially since some of the alternate chapters seem either sketchy or superfluous… [Link]

Related posts: Partying in Pakistan, ‘Moth Smoke,’ the film