When Parvez's son Ali starts clearing out his bedroom, Parvez assumes he's taking drugs and selling his possessions to pay for them. His fellow taxi drivers are triumphant: they knew something was wrong. Bettina, the prostitute Parvez regularly drives home, tells him what signs to look out for.
But nothing is physically different about Ali except that he is growing a beard - and praying five times a day. He condemns his father for drinking alcohol and eating bacon, and assures him that the Law of Islam will rule the world.
First published in March 1994, Hanif Kureishi's comedy of assimilation is both uproariously funny and so prescient it's barely funny at all.
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Surrepticuiously the father began going into his son's bedroom.
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(@FaberBooks, 15 October 2019, ebook, 35 pages, bought from @AmazonKindle)
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I really enjoyed My Son the Fanatic. It was a strange tale, in a good way. There is a lot of humour in the story and it starts off with a light tone. Parvez thinks his son is selling his things to buy harmless things like drugs or to pay a prostitute. The tone gets much darker when Ali starts to talk about Islam ruling the world, infidels being killed and chastises his father for eating pork, drinking alcohol and enjoying Western life too much. There is still a hint of satire but the story takes on a darker and more disturbing overture.
