The plot of this short novel begins with a young Pakistani,
Changez, who heads to USA for his higher studies in a prestigious university.
After his studies, he manages to get a job in an investment banking firm. His
intelligence, hard work and commitment help him to get noticed and grow within
the organization. He finds an American girl friend too. Before it turns out to
be all is well story, terror strikes on the World Trade Center at New York
bring down twin towers come to the earth. That incident changes the way white
Americans looked at Muslims living in the country. The protagonist of the story
too observes people around looking at him with suspicion. A colleague of him
advised to shave off the beard. Checks at Airport turn embarrassing. Strangers
attempt a physical assault on him when he is alone in the car park. His
girlfriend falls sick and moves away from him. All these developments put Changez
into introspection and he finally realizes he truly belongs to his home country
Pakistan and that is where his destiny is. He resigns from the job, packs off
his bags, heads back to his home country. He finds a job in a College but his
passion turns him into a social activist.
The whole story is told in first person in autobiographic
style, over a conversation with an American tourist visiting Pakistan talking
to the author in a restaurant. Though it is supposed to be the dialogue between the two strangers, it is the
uninterrupted monologue which runs through the entire novel. So the reader gets to
hear only person throughout the novel, the narrator in first person. This style
is unique and may be unsuitable for a work of fiction but the author make it
work for this story.
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