Book Club Friday's (#10) - How to get filthy rich in rising Asia

eldergill (52)in #bookclub • 6 years ago

About the author

Mohsin Hamid is a Pakistani novelist raised in Lahore who is a well-known writer for the Guardian, the New York Times, the Financial Times, and the New Yorker. He spent most of his childhood in California and ended up studying at Princeton University and Harvard Law school. Since graduating, he has moved around the globe living in Lahore, London and New York for periods of time. His famous work includes The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Moth Smoke.

About the book

How to get filthy rich in rising Asia is an entertaining, relatively easy read with a strong message behind it. It is a unique book in the respect that it is written in the second-person, which gives it this kind of edge, where you become at one with the character as it is almost like Mohsin is speaking directly to you through the book. There is a lot of strong imagery and I think that he purposely takes you on this journey of achievement and eventual loss to convey a strong message that so many people miss.

This message is that so many people desire more than anything to get rich and powerful, but in the process, they don't realise that they lose what's important in life. Chasing wealth in the material manner has a great capacity to lead to dissatisfaction in life, as the process and the journey of creating this future for yourself can force you to forget to actually live your life. I'm not sure if anyone else who has read the book experienced this but I noticed a big jump from childhood, to middle age to eventual death. I personally believe that this was created for effect, and it is completely relatable. In childhood, we often feel like time progresses slowly because often as children we live in the moment and are focused on what is happening now rather than in a year or a decades time.

I noticed that suddenly, almost as if out of nowhere within the space of 2 chapters the protagonist in the book become rich and wealthy beyond his wildest dreams, and now has a whole new set of problems. With wealth, comes a whole list of issues, especially if the money you have obtained was done so in an unethical manner. This stress fast-forwards the book, he gets divorced, hardly spends time with his children and eventually dies young, or so it seems... But maybe it's just because life has flown by so fast that he hasn't actually been able to enjoy it.

I loved the book because it puts a lot into perspective. I do think the pursuit of wealth is an important factor for personal success, but the moment that it becomes more important than yourself, or more important than other pressing issues within society.... is the moment that it becomes a real issue.

I highly recommend the book, it is an easy read but that doesn't take away any credit to Mohsin Hamid, it in fact only adds to the praise.

Have a great weekend!

Adam x