The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Penguin Essentials)

　　拉合爾巿集的一間茶館裡，
　　巴基斯坦男子跟美國陌生人叨叨述說自己的故事。

　　當夜越來越深，男子的故事漸漸透露出，兩人的相遇或許並非偶然……
　　生命中會有那麼些時候，一些比金錢、地位，甚至愛情更重要的東西，從心底蠢蠢湧出……

　　來自巴基斯坦沒落家族的成吉思，曾經努力編織美國夢，而他也的確過上了許多移民夢寐以求的生活：從普林斯頓大學畢業，被曼哈頓的頂尖財務顧問公司招攬，跟氣質高雅的富家女談戀愛，擠身紐約上流社會。沒落貴族出身的他悄悄以為，命中注定他就是要過這樣的生活。然而，九一一恐怖攻擊之後，什麼都變了。成吉思周遭的世界、自己深愛的女人、內心的自我認同，所有的一切開始分崩離析，而一些過去從沒注意過、潛藏在心底最深處的東西，開始慢慢湧出。
 
　　＊入圍曼布克獎決選（shortlist）
　　＊入圍大英國協作家獎決選
　　＊《紐約時報》2007年年度好書
　　＊《出版人週刊》2007年年度好書

　　來自巴基斯坦的成吉思在美國過著許多移民夢寐以求的生活：從普林斯頓大學畢業後，身曼哈頓財務管理菁英的行列，還跟家境富裕、氣質高雅的女同學談戀愛，擠身紐約上流社會。但九一一恐怖攻擊之後，一切都變了，成吉思的自我認同陷入劇烈的掙扎。

　　全書由成吉思在拉合爾茶館裡跟一個美國陌生人的「對話」寫成，雖說是對話，讀者卻只能聽到成吉思單方面的聲音，美國人則始終神祕地躲在陰影裡。成吉思向美國人叨叨述說自己的故事，說到最後他決定放棄大好前程與富足人生，回到家鄉拉合爾，變成一個仇恨美國的激進分子，也就是眼前這個蓄鬍子、有點陰沉的敘事者。故事接近尾聲，夜也很深了，成吉思陪美國人走回他的飯店，兩人身後似乎還跟了一些人，美國人愈來愈不安，伸手進口袋裡彷彿要掏出什麼，全書結尾在控制得恰到好處的懸疑氣氛中達到高潮。

　　---中文簡介擷取自《拉合爾茶館的陌生人》，印刻出版

　　The Reluctant Fundamentalist is Mohsin Hamid's thrillingly provocative international bestseller, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time. 

　　Shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2007

　　Now a major film directed by Mira Nair and starring Kate Hudson and Kiefer Sutherland

　　'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 . . .

　　Challenging, mysterious and thrillingly tense, Mohsin Hamid's masterly The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a vital read teeming with questions and ideas about some of the most pressing issues of today's globalised, fractured world.

　　'Masterful . . . A multi-layered and thoroughly gripping book, which works as a poignant love story, a powerful dissection of how US imperialist machinations have turned so many people against the world's superpower - and as a thriller that subtly ratchets up the nerve-jangling tension towards an explosive ending' Metro

　　'Beautifully written . . . more exciting than any thriller I've read for a long time' Philip Pullman

　　'A brilliant book' Kiran Desai

　　'Admirably spare and amazingly exciting' Rachel Cooke, New Statesman

作者簡介

莫欣．哈密（Mohsin Hamid）

　　一九七一年出生於巴基斯坦第二大城拉合爾，在當地長大，後來到美國求學，進入普林斯頓大學主修公共與國際事務，畢業後又轉到哈佛大學法學院深造，一九九七年取得哈佛法律博士學位。之後在紐約曼哈頓的財務管理公司擔任管理顧問，也曾擔任拉合爾特約記者，目前定居倫敦。

　　二○○○年，莫欣．哈密出版處女作《蛾煙》（Moth Smoke），這部小說獲得貝蒂特拉斯克（Betty Trask）文學獎、入圍美國筆會海明威文學獎，並獲《紐約時報》選為年度好書。二○○七年，他的第二本小說《拉合爾茶館的陌生人》甫出版即在美國造成轟動，不但迅速躍上各大暢銷排行榜，還入圍英國曼布克獎、不列顛國協作家獎，並且被《紐約時報》選為年度好書、《出版人週刊》選為年度小說。

　　Mohsin Hamid is the author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Moth Smoke and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. His fiction has been translated into over 30 languages, received numerous awards, and been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He has contributed essays and short stories to publications such as the Guardian, The New York Times, Financial Times, Granta, and Paris Review. Born and mostly raised in Lahore, he spent part of his childhood in California, studied at Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and has since lived between Lahore, London, and New York.