One could not really continue to write, or read about, the slow seasonal changes, the rural backwaters, gossipy courtyards, and traditional families in a world taken over by gun-running, drug-trafficking, large-scale industrialism, commercial entrepreneurship, tourism, new money, nightclubs, boutiques... Where was the Huxley, the Orwell, the Scott Fitzgerald, or even the Tom Wolfe, Jay McInerney, or Brett Easton Ellis to record this new world? Mohsin Hamid's novel Moth Smoke, set in Lahore, is one of the first pictures we have of that world.

maybe we the readers are the ones who jump to conclusions; maybe the book is intended as a Rorschach to reflect back our unconscious assumptions. In our not knowing lies the novel's suspense... Hamid literally leaves us at the end in a kind of alley, the story suddenly suspended; it's even possible that some act of violence might occur. But more likely, we are left holding the bag of conflicting worldviews. We're left to ponder the symbolism of Changez having been caught up in the game of symbolism...a game we ourselves have been known to play.

• Moth Smoke (2000) ISBN 0374213542
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) ISBN 0241143659

• 2000 New York Times Notable Book of the Year: Moth Smoke
• 2001 Betty Trask Award: Moth Smoke
• 2001 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award (shortlist): Moth Smoke
• 2007 Man Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist): The Reluctant Fundamentalist
• 2007 New York Times Notable Book of the Year: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
• 2008 Ambassador Book Award of the English Speaking Union: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
• 2008 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
• 2008 Arts Council England Decibel Award (shortlist): The Reluctant Fundamentalist
• 2008 Asian American Literary Award: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
• 2008 Australia-Asia Literary Award (shortlist): The Reluctant Fundamentalist
• 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Eurasia Region, Best Book) (shortlist): The Reluctant Fundamentalist
• 2008 Index on Censorship T R Fyvel Award (shortlist): The Reluctant Fundamentalist
• 2008 James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction) (shortlist): The Reluctant Fundamentalist
• 2008 South Bank Show Annual Award for Literature: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
• 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (shortlist): The Reluctant Fundamentalist
• 2009 Premio Speciale Dal Testo Allo Schermo: The Reluctant Fundamentalist