A short story adapted from the novel, called "Focus on the Fundamentals," appeared in the fall 2006 issue of The Paris Review.

As they wait for their tea, Changez begins to weave a long story about his life, especially his time living in the United States – in between making remarks about the history, landmarks and society of Lahore, his native city which he loves and of which he is proud.

Changez tells the American he was an excellent student who, after completing his bachelor's degree in finance, joined Underwood Samson, a consultancy firm, as an analyst.

After graduating from Princeton University, he vacationed in Greece with fellow Princetonians, where he met Erica, an aspiring writer.

He was instantly smitten by her, but his feelings remained almost unrequited because she was still grieving over the death of her childhood sweetheart Christopher Zee, who succumbed to lung cancer.

After a date, they return to his place and he proceeds to have sex with her, but stops because her emotional attachment to Chris prevents her from becoming aroused.

In his professional life, he impresses his peers and gets earmarked by his superiors for his work, especially Jim, the person who recruited him, develops a good rapport with him, and holds him in high esteem.

In Chile, he is very distracted due to developments in the world and, responding to the parabolic suggestion of the publisher his company is there to assess (which would lead to its breakup), he visits the nearby preserved home of the late left-wing poet Pablo Neruda and comes to see himself as a servant of the American empire that has constantly interfered with and manipulated his homeland.

As they sit in the cafe, Changez keeps noting that the American stranger is very apprehensive of their surroundings, that he is in possession of a sophisticated satellite phone on which he is repeatedly messaging, and that under his clothing there is a bulge which might be a gun.

[16] In 2009, the University of St Andrews announced that they would be sending a free copy of The Reluctant Fundamentalist to all of 1,500 new undergraduates as part of a new incentive to "offer students a common topic for discussion and focus energies on reading and intellectual debate".

Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas uses the book in all honors rhetoric classes for first-year students.

Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and Siena College in Loudonville, New York use the novel as an introduction to their First Year Seminar programs.

New York City's CUNY Hunter College, department of English, assigns this book in an Asian American literature course for public discourse and a level of understanding of a post-9/11 age in America.

[20] BBC Radio 4 began broadcasting an abridged version on 22 August 2011, read by British actor Riz Ahmed.