Mohsin Hamid Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Mohsin Hamid is a British Pakistan novelist born in 1971. He is popularly known as the author of Moth Smoke (2000), How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013) and Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) and Exit West (2017). The author spent most of his childhood times in the United States from the age of 3 to 9 while his father enrolled for a Ph.D. at Stanford University. Later the author moved with his family back to Pakistan where he enrolled at Lahore American School.

Aged 18, Hamid went back to the United States to further his studies, and in 1993 he graduated from Princeton University. Having studied under the writers Toni Morrison and Joyce Carol Oates, he wrote his first draft novel for a workshop under Morrison. After college, Hamid returned to Pakistan to continue working on his book.

In 1997 Hamid attended Harvard Law School, and after realizing that corporate law was boring, he repaid his loans by working at McKinsey Company in New York as a Management Consultant. While working, he was allowed to have a break of three months each year to work on his novel.

The author relocated to London during the summer of 2001, with a thought of staying for just one year. Even though he made frequent visits to Pakistan to write, he continued living in London for eight years, and in 2006 he obtained a dual citizenship in 2006.

Hamid wrote the first novel; Moth Smoke tell a story of bhang smoking retired banker who ends up falling in love with his best friends wife and later becomes a heroin addict. The novel was published in 2000 and became a hit in India and Pakistan. The novel was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Moth Smoke was adapted into a television film in Pakistan and as an Operetta in Italy. Moth Smoke had a creative and innovative structure, using 2nd person trial scenes, and multiple voices. It was considered as one of the most compelling novels of its generation.

The author’s 2nd novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist narrates the story of Pakistani gentleman who leaves his luxurious life in America after the 9/11 attacks and a failed love affair. The book was released in 2007 sold over 1 million copies worldwide and was listed number 4 on New York Times Best Seller list. The novel has won several awards including Asian American Award & Anisfield Wolf Book Award subsequently it has been translated into over 25 languages worldwide. The Guardian chose it as the book that defined the decade.

Just like the debut novel, the 2nd book The Reluctant Fundamentalist was somehow experimental. The author in an interview indicated that The Fall a book written by Albert Camus served as his model.

The third novel How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia was published in 2013 by Riverhead Books. The book is told in the 2nd person and tells the story of main characterjourney from the dirty rural streets to the expensive cities in “Rising Asia.”

The author has also written on literature, politics, travel, art, and other topics. Most of his essays, journalism, and stories have appeared in The Washington Post, The Guardian, The New York Times, Paris Review, The International Herald Tribune and other publications. In 2013 Hamid was named by the Foreign Policy Magazine as one of the world’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers.

In 2009, Hamid relocated to Lahore with his wife and their daughter Dina. He divides his time between Lahore, New York, and the Mediterranean countries, Greece, London, and Italy.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)

In Lahore at a café, a heavily bearded man converses with a troubled American stranger. As the night approaches, he begins to narrate the ordeal that has finally brought them to the fateful meeting.

Changez is living an immigrant dream in the cities of America. His social status is all that he ever dreamed of, now working for a valuation firm of Underwood Samson. Changez has finally found the love of his life, Erica and what he can only dream of now is living the American dream that can only be compared to the social level his family once had back in Lahore.

Unfortunately the attacks made on the American soil on September 11th change everything for Changez, starting from his job position to his relationship with Erica.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an eerie and a quietly powerful story. The structure of the novel is simple and yet informative. The 2nd narrative presented in this book is powerful, and it will confront “you” the reader and implicate you directly to the events that have taken place in the novel. The entire story is told from the perspective of Changez, and the American voice is superficially erased. Finally, the story ending is ambiguous, so it is challenging and productive.

How to get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013)

The internationally bestselling author now boldly imagined of a tale of a poor boy in pursuit of love and wealth. The novel tells a story of a young man’s journey from the poor rural boy to a to cooperate tycoon. This third book uses a 2nd person perspective with the author alluding to the main characters only “you.” The entire story takes place in the unnamed country that resembles the author’s home, Pakistan and details the main character starting as a poor boy and his quest for love and wealth as he moves to the urban city and begins a bottled water business.

Moth Smoke (2001)

After Daru Shezad receives termination letter from his job, his downfall begins slowly, and soon he finds himself unable of paying his bills. He descends into dissolution and drugs and for some good reasons he falls in love with the wife of his childhood friend.

Desperate to go back to his original lifestyle, he starts a career in crime, but when a well-planned heist does not go as planned, Shezad finds himself on trial for a crime he may not have committed that he may have. Moth Smoke is one interesting read from the international bestseller Mohsin Hamid. Being his first novel, it forms a solid background for his career and showcases him as a writer of great imaginations.