“A heartbreaking work of staggering genius” is of course a clichéd title of a famous book by Dave Eggers but in the case of Mohsin Hamid’s How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia this description would be quite appropriate.
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is the first book I have read by this author (although his science fiction work Exit West has been on my radar for awhile as book to be read). I had to read How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia because we have assigned this book as the reading for all entering students at the college at which I work. Happily, the book is a quick read (a mere 222 large-font paperback pages), surprisingly engaging and extraordinarily effective.
It is true what others say that the gimmick of being a self-help book is somewhat off-putting at first and the setting in an unnamed Asian country, following the life and career of its initially destitute protagonist, can appear to be distancing to readers who do not share this positionality. But, by the end, what makes the book work so well is the absolute universality of its themes. That, along with the stunning proficiency of its prose, puts How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia in rarefied company.
Mohsin Hamid is clearly a master at crafting clever phrases, deploying insightful metaphors and cheeky similes all the while skewering many aspects of society. Just off the top of my head (without consulting the text again) he pokes fun at: the surveillance state; society’s obsession with celebrity; the venality of politics, government and banking; and, of course, the pursuit of “wealth” as a measure of successful life. This last subject is the ostensible topic of the novel, but I would argue the real point of the novel is force the reader to think about their own life and goals while simultaneously depicting a plausible life path for his unnamed protagonist.
One aspect of the book I found incredibly powerful was the way that the author is able to suddenly switch the meaning of the word “you” between his characters. The primary use of “you” is usually referring to the central protagonist whom he is using as an example of someone who is following the author’s “self-help” advice to “get filthy rich in rising Asia.” But sometimes “you” switches to mean the reader, or another character in the story (often “the pretty girl” who is the love interest of our protagonist).
The structure of the book is sneakily effective at slowly drawing the reader into the plot, while maintaining the “self-help” gimmick with chapter names like “Avoid Idealists,” "Focus on the Fundamentals,” and “Have an Exit Strategy.” By the end of the book I suspect that most people who read the final sentence (which is nearly a page long!) will leave tears dripping on to the page/screen.
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is a tour de force by a very talented writer using a clever premise and unexpected literary device to produce a work of fiction which is surprisingly effective.
Title: How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia.
Author: Mohsin Hamid.
Paperback: 222 pages.
Publisher: Riverhead Books.
Date Published: March 5, 2013.
Date Read: August 20, 2018.
GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★★ (5.0/5.0).
OVERALL GRADE: A- (4.0/4.0).
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A+.
WRITING: A+.
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