Discontent and Its Civilizations

Dispatches from Lahore, New York, and London

By: Mohsin Hamid

Narrated by: Mohsin Hamid

Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

From "one of his generation's most inventive and gifted writers" (The New York Times), intimate and sharply observed commentary on life, art, politics, and "the war on terror".

Mohsin Hamid's brilliant, moving, and extraordinarily clever novels have not only made him an international best seller, they have earned him a reputation as a "master critic of the modern global condition" (Foreign Policy). His stories are at once timeless and of-the-moment, and his themes are universal: love, language, ambition, power, corruption, religion, family, identity. Here, he explores this terrain from a different angle in essays that deftly counterpoise the personal and the political, and are shot through with the same passion, imagination, and breathtaking shifts of perspective that gives his fiction its unmistakable electric charge.

A "water lily" who has called three countries on three continents his home - Pakistan, the birthplace to which he returned as a young father; the United States, where he spent his childhood and young adulthood; and Britain, where he married and became a citizen - Hamid writes about overlapping worlds with fluidity and penetrating insight. Whether he is discussing courtship rituals or pop culture, drones or the rhythms of daily life in an extended family compound, he transports us beyond the scarifying headlines of an anxious West and a volatile East, beyond stereotype and assumption, and helps to bring a dazzling, diverse global culture within emotional and intellectual reach.

©2015 Mohsin Hamid (P)2015 Penguin Audio

Thought-Provoking Essays by Mohsin Hamid

I particularly liked the essays in the first half or 2/3 of the collection that Bowles gave background on Hamid as a person and on his views of living in Lahore, New York and London. The pieces on his writing is a craft were very interesting, but the pieces on his views of our diverse and changing world were most thought-provoking. The final essays are mostly on Pakistan and will give western readers some insight into the situation there, perhaps in a broad stroke way, in much food for thought for those living in Pakistan.

Favorite of Hamid's writings

While I still haven't read Moth Smoke, this is my favorite of Hamid's works. Thoughtful and articulate.

Narrator

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I hate to say this, but I was unable to listen to this Narrator. Maybe he is talented in many other things, but narration or reading is DEFINETLY not one of his talents. Or maybe it is the audio quality that taped him. He mumbles and his voice trails away , I had to turn the volume to the loudest back and forth. Maybe if someone else read it ,I would have understood it better. I just finished another Pakistani story, the narrator was marvelous, " I dared to call him father" by Bilquis Sheikh and the narrator was I think Lorna something. Her diction, her reading ,acting etc was v pleasant. I really apologize, but it is a friendly critique, maybe if someone else read it, I could listen to it and understand it . The subject was v interesting though .

What didn’t you like about Mohsin Hamid’s performance?

I don't know him and I don't want to hurt his feelings or ruin his future. This is a very friendly advice to just learn from it. He has a nice speaking voice, but maybe the audio equipment was not working ,so he seemed as if not interested, he didn't project his voice clearly, his voice trails away as if whispering . So overall if he took Speech and how to project or voice training, maybe that would help him in the future.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

As I said before, I really tried my best to listen, but, I couldn't stay with the recording . Tried to rewind etc, and sometimes I just drifted to sleep .

Any additional comments?

I'm really saying this just to help him in the future. No one is perfect by birth, some are really talented and don't need schooling, many others have to work harder and train longer to achieve the results hoped for. All of us are God's wonderful creation, made in His image ( our eternal spirits of course, not our gender) So all of us are valuable with different talents.

Good story but too many statistics

As a Pakistani this book allowed me to revisit Pakistan's political history through present and its relationship with America. However, Mohsin doesn't fully explain its impact directly on his life and or his family. This would have been more engaging.

A thought provoking insight into the modern political and cultural landscape

If want to think about the clash of cultures in a interesting intelligent way this is for you