海角大神

Thanks to Haruki Murakami, we won't have to wait as long for Mohsin Hamid鈥檚 future novels. Hamid's acclaimed first two, "Moth Smoke" and "The Reluctant Fundamentalist," took seven years each. His lauded latest, "How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia," took six, after he discovered Murakami鈥檚 "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" and learned that Murakami 鈥渞uns like a fiend鈥� 鈥� marathons, ultras, triathlons.

Why? According to Murakami, 鈥淲riting a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.鈥� Hamid surmises if Murakami runs to write long novels, then Hamid can walk for his short novels: 鈥淲alking unlocked me.鈥� Grateful readers: His daily five-mile habit should soon beget us 鈥渘ovel four.鈥�

Because writing is 鈥渟olitary work,鈥� Hamid reads other novelists鈥� nonfiction 鈥� memoirs, essays, interviews 鈥� 鈥渢o hang out with them.鈥� Discontent and Its Civilizations: Dispatches from Lahore, New York, and London 鈥� a collection of 36 essays previously published between 2000-2014 with a new Introduction 鈥� is Hamid鈥檚 own invitation to 鈥渉ang out.鈥�

Hamid is an admitted water lily, 鈥渁 rather unmacho sobriquet (unlike, say, 鈥榤asters of the universe鈥�).鈥� Water lilies have roots, but living in ponds and streams, they drift. Hamid鈥檚 roots began in Lahore, Pakistan, but his last four decades have drifted through the US as a California child, Princeton University undergrad, Harvard Law student, and New York professional; London as a temporary resident then a British citizen; and most recently, back to his multigenerational family home in Pakistan.

Organized into three sections 鈥� Life, Art, Politics 鈥� Hamid intends 鈥渢he experience of reading this book to be like developing a relationship.鈥� We get to know Hamid 鈥渁 little.鈥� He boasts to Toni Morrison about his culinary skills. He gets a free taxi ride from an empathetic 鈥渄river who looks like a terrorist鈥� after applying for an Italian visa. He tries for the first time 鈥渓iving in a country and writing about it at the same time鈥� 鈥� "Moth Smoke," set in Lahore, was written in New York; "Reluctant Fundamentalist," set mostly in New York, was written in London. But "Filthy Rich" was Pakistani writ-and-set.

In 鈥淎rt,鈥� Hamid shares how he 鈥渢hink[s] about and approach[es] the task of writing.鈥� He extols his 鈥渢hing for slender novels,鈥� especially "Sostiene Pereira" by Antonio Tabucchi. From his vantage of being Pakistani-born, American-raised-and-educated, he questions, 鈥淧eople often ask me if I am [The Reluctant Fundamentalist]鈥檚 Pakistani protagonist. I wonder why they never ask if I am his American listener.鈥� He reveals his 鈥減roto-novelistic skills were first honed鈥� during his childhood experiences of being a Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master. He 鈥渁dvocate[s for] the death of the Great American Novel鈥� as being 鈥渘eedlessly exclusionary, and 鈥� unfortunately parochial.鈥� He eschews 鈥渋ntrusive technology鈥� and therefore prefers printed books to e-counterparts.

Hamid鈥檚 鈥淧olitics鈥� section showcases some of the collection鈥檚 sharpest, smartest segments, but it鈥檚 also the most uneven 鈥� the longest essay, 鈥淲hy They Get Pakistan Wrong,鈥� for example, reads more like a dry book report than Hamid鈥檚 usual pithy, erudite observations.

That said, Hamid adroitly elucidates on Pakistan鈥檚 relationship to the US, its bloody history with India, its many governments, changing leaders, unjust treatment of majority and minorities. As in the previous sections, his words resonate most when he shares the personal: being the last passengers to pick up 鈥渁 lonely set of suitcases and a foldable playpen鈥� after being needlessly detained (again) at JFK; or considering the need for blast-resistant film for his daughter鈥檚 bedroom windows because they face a busy Lahore street.

With patience and frustration both, he reminds, 鈥淚slam Is Not a Monolith.鈥� While outside powers have played a significant role in depleting his birth country, 鈥淧akistanis must realize that we have been our own worst enemies.鈥� Foreign intervention provides convenient scapegoats rather than demand that leaders address the country鈥檚 problems internally. Yet Hamid remains hopeful, not only for Pakistan, but all of Asia: 鈥淥ur continent may still be a mess, but it is a mess with incredible potential.鈥澛�

"Incredible" and "potential" are certainly applicable to describe Hamid himself. While his novels might prove preferable, to appreciate his assessments and judgments, his humor, irony, even the snark in his nonfiction writing, enhances the pleasures of his fiction: 鈥淢aybe novels are where our selves get to put up their feet, take off their clothes and makeup and dentures, cut loose with an echoing fart, and be a little truer to what they are for a bit, before they are once more pressed into service, sealed in their uniforms, and dispatched to face a reality in which they can鈥檛, for good reason, entirely believe.鈥�

Terry Hong writes , a book review blog for the .

[Editor's note: An earlier headline for this story misstated the title of the book.]