Moth Smoke

"This book is the most similar to my own because it explores the life of a junkie in Pakistan who also enjoyed an upper-class lifestyle. The main character is an investment banker, but he loses his job and social standing and embarks on a downward spiral. His descent also mirrors the political downward spiral of Pakistan during the 1990s. It’s set in yet another country, in a different social milieu in which addiction exists, but in a lot of ways Pakistan is very similar to Bangladesh. Both countries have a big divide between the rich and poor and drugs are a taboo topic, about which there is little understanding. Young people in both countries are scoring from the slums and probably using the same drug chains of Afghanistan and India. It’s a very lyrical and beautiful book, though I don’t believe Mohsin Hamid explores what it takes to get over addiction."

"Mohsin is better known for The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Exit West , but this book meant so much to me. During my freshman orientation, buying supplies at a UC Berkeley bookstore, I saw Moth Smoke on a shelf and thought: that’s a Pakistani name and there’s a brown guy on the cover. I couldn’t believe a novel by a Muslim guy set in Pakistan was put out by a mainstream publisher. “Now there’s an explosion of South Asian American literature” I love the way Mohsin places us at the point where Westernized dreams hit a wall. Oftentimes, in South Asian literature, like White Tiger , when people are trying to get out of their situation, then they get stuck or they get crushed. If you don’t have the power, if you don’t have the wealth, if you don’t have the access, it happens. Moth Smoke is about this guy who’s stuck. But the story has propulsive energy to it."