The Reluctant Fundamentalist- Heather Goslin

In both the movie and the book The Reluctant Fundamentalist, we repeatedly see “focus on the fundamentals”. When Jim says it to Changez, he wants him to focus on the well-being of the business and do what is best for Underwood Samson. We also see different kinds of fundamentalists, more so in the movie than the book. We see the corporate fundamentalists, through Underwood Sampson, the al-Qaeda, through wanting to “share the truth” of the Qu’ran, and Changez and Erica have their own fundamentals. In the book I really did not notice the differing fundamentalists. I think Nair wanted to make use of the title more.

The most noticeable and annoying change from the book to the movie was how different Erica was. In the book, Erica is so fragile and depressed and we hardly see that in Nair’s adaptation. In the movie, the audience does not fully get to see how Erica has affected Changez mentally. Yes, we see how in love he thinks he is, but we do not see how he basically cannot stop thinking about her. His relationship with Erica changed how he viewed certain situations. I do like how there was more dialogue between Changez and his dinner guest in the movie (not just Changez’s point of view). It gave the viewer a lot more certainty about who this American was, rather than questioning how the book ended.

I cannot think of an answer about the Pakistani dream. Honestly if I was living somewhere where protests and war and weapons were right in front of me, I would not stay there longer than necessary. I would hope their dream would be to focus on what is most important- family, friends, health, etc.- the fundamentals.