How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid

A few weeks ago now I read How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid. I really enjoyed it, partially because it was a quick read, but also because Hamid does interesting things with the structure and language of the book. Whereas the tone in my favourite Hamid book, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, is very much structured as a conversation through which the reader learns the story, this book is, as the title might suggest, structured like a self help book. There are the chapter titles which reflect the learning principle to be covered, the story is told to "you" as the reader and then the reader skips through to the next principle meaning that there can be big jumps in the narrative time line.

One of the other interesting about this book is what the reader is not told. We never learn any of the characters names or where the book is specifically set (we know that it is a South East Asian country so my guess is possibly Pakistan but that is just a guess), and even the time frame is somewhat fluid. Some of the action takes place now but given that two of the characters bond over a love of movies by watching videos and then we see them when they are older I am thinking that some of it may well be in the future.

We first meet our main characters when he is a sickly young boy living in a village. His father works in the city as a servant but then comes home to see his family. After moving with his family to the city, we see the boy as he matures into adulthood and his initial attempts at entrepreneurship and then as a successful businessman selling bottled water through to his older years. We see him as he is married and becomes a father, as he occasionally interacts with the "pretty girl" who he first met as a young man and more.

It is important not to go into this book thinking that you are going to really like the characters. It is not that the main character is unlikable but he is not necessarily admirable. He is not above a little shonky business dealing, bribery, violence and more in order to make the transition from poor to filthy rich. This is also not a funny book, but there is a sense of humour that shows through in parts, or perhaps a better description would be satirical cleverness. I don't normally get satire, but this book is clearly satirising the whole idea of self help books. The fact that Hamid does that whilst still telling an interesting story about a particular set of characters is part of what makes this so interesting.

Initially when I sat down tonight I was intending to write a short introduction to the quote I am about to share as part of my irregular Bookish Quotes series. However, the intro has turned into a review! I still want to share the quote, which comes from pages 97-98, because I liked it, particularly the second paragraph.

Like all books, this self-help book is a co-creative project. When you watch a TV show or a movie, what you see looks like what it physically represents. A man looks like a man, a man with a large bicep looks like a man with a large bicep, and a man with a large bicep bearing the tattoo "Mama" looks like a man with a large bicep bearing the tattoo "Mama."

But when you read a book, what you see are black squiggles on pulped wood or, increasingly, dark pixels on a pale screen. To transform these icons into characters and events, you must imagine. And when you imagine, you create. It's in being read that a book becomes a book, and in each of a million different readings a book becomes one of a million different books, just as an egg becomes one of potentially a million different people when it's approached by a hard-swimming and frisky school of sperm.

Readers don't work for writers. They work for themselves. Therein, if you'll excuse the admittedly biased tone, lies the richness of reading.

Rating 4/5

Synopsis

From the internationally bestselling author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the boldly imagined tale of a poor boy’s quest for wealth and love.

His first two novels established Mohsin Hamid as a radically inventive storyteller with his finger on the world’s pulse. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia meets that reputation—and exceeds it. the astonishing and riveting tale of a man’s journey from impoverished rural boy to corporate tycoon, it steals its shape from the business self-help books devoured by ambitious youths all over “rising Asia.” It follows its nameless hero to the sprawling metropolis where he begins to amass an empire built on that most fluid, and increasingly scarce, of goods: water. Yet his heart remains set on something else, on the pretty girl whose star rises along with his, their paths crossing and recrossing, a lifelong affair sparked and snuffed and sparked again by the forces that careen their fates along.

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is a striking slice of contemporary life at a time of crushing upheaval. Romantic without being sentimental, political without being didactic, and spiritual without being religious, it brings an unflinching gaze to the violence and hope it depicts. And it creates two unforgettable characters who find moments of transcendent intimacy in the midst of shattering change

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

At a cafe table in Lahore, a Pakistani man begins the tale that has led to his fateful meeting with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting....

Changez is living an immigrant's dream of America. Top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by Underwood Samson, an elite firm that specializes in the 'valuation' of companies ripe for acquisition. He thrives on the energy of New York and the intensity of his work, and his infatuation with the elegant, beautiful America promises entry into the Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back home in Lahore.

For a time, it seems as though nothing will stand in the way of Changez's meteoric rise to personal and professional success. But in the wake of September 11, he finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez's own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power and maybe even love.

With echoes of Camus and Fitzgerald, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a riveting, devastating exploration of our divided yet ultimately indivisible world.

I can not tell you how surprised I am at how much I really loved this book especially given the way that the story itself is told.

The main character Changez offers assistance to an unnamed American tourist one afternoon. After shepherding the tourist to a small cafe, so begins a long afternoon/evening where Changez tells his tale. The interactions with the other characters are only show as they are reflected through Changez's own speech. At no time do we hear from the tourist, or the waiter or any of the other characters of whom we generally only see fleeting glimpses.

The story that Changez tells is one of searching for identity and belonging and love. Changez had spent many years in America studying at Princeton, getting top grades and eventually recruited to one of the most sought after jobs following graduation. Everything is going well for Changez. Not only does he have the job of his dreams, earning loads of cash, travelling first class, but he is also falling in love with the beautiful Erica who introduces him to the creme de la creme of New York society.

Then comes 9/11, and while at first there is little change for Changez gradually he begins to look at the implications of the political decisions that are made, and wonder about his own identity in relation to these events. He also begins to understand that Erica's seemingly confident grace is a barely there shell over a fragmented and tortured psyche.

As he tells the stranger his story and they share a meal and drinks, we get to see small glimpses of clues about what kind of man it is that Changez is dining with and what he might be doing in Lahore, but a lot of the information we are given is implied rather than presented to the reader on a platter.

The fact that all 180 pages of this book are portraying this one meeting, and that there is so little interaction and clarity around the other characters would normally be something that would drive me nuts, but in this authors capable hands, there was no question of impatience on my part. I was prepared to let the details unfurl at precisely the speed that the author was ready to reveal them and to savour the skill involved in telling such a strong story from such a limited perspective.

Quite often books that are nominated for prizes can be a bit inaccessible and can feel like something of a labour to get through, but not this one! Every now and again there is a gem that is profound and yet completely readable, and this is one such case.

Totally loved it!

Other Blogger's Thoughts:

Bold. Blue. Adventure