topics in american literature for writters

In what may strike fans of feel-good literature as perversity, Mohsin Hamid often seems bent on making his readers uncomfortable.  Considering the still-tender geopolitical themes addressed in The Reluctant Fundamentalist,is this a smart narrative strategy?  Why, after all, would anyone want to read a book about an unlikable guy with a tendency to Schadenfreude? 

required text: The Reluctant Fundamentalist