

Loading... Exit West (2017)by Mohsin Hamid
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» 30 more Books Read in 2017 (107) Booker Prize (151) Magic Realism (250) Best of 2017 (3) Asia (76) Review 2 (1) To Read (22) Best of World Literature (114) To read (4) Contemporary Fiction (88) Indie Next Picks (29) South Asia (6) 250 Page Project (71) No current Talk conversations about this book. A book that played on my mind. Sparsely written. I felt it to be the skeleton of a story leaving the reader to flesh it out. Intense and to my mind sad. I am very glad I read it, which is not something I often say. A story that will stay with me. ( ![]() Refugees from a war-torn country try to escape to a safer place through magical doors. The fantastical element was told in such a matter-of-fact way that I had to reread it to make sure I didn’t miss something. Saeed and Nadia are interesting characters, but the author has a way of keeping the reader at arm’s length so I never felt deeply connected to them. There are also interlude sections with characters we only see once that felt unnecessary. An interesting premise, but I wanted more from it. This is definitely an interesting and intelligent book, but I’m not sure I liked it all that much. It’s kind of a magical realist take on the migrant crisis, following a young couple from an unnamed war torn land (it appears to be Syria) who flee across Europe. I really liked the first half, which has them trying to survive in their refined city, but as it becomes more magical and fable like I found myself disconnecting from it. READ THIS BOOK! Then read it again. The writing is amazing - beautiful, poetic, moving, significant. The story of a young couple who meet in an unnamed, war-torn country and then escape is amazing. Reflecting on immigration, migration, war, the nature of relationships, Hamid has build a world that is close enough to touch though distant from our own. I didn't want the book to end although I did want to know what happened to the protagonists and their world. WOW! Worth reading. Interesting concept and very important message. I personally prefer more fantastical reads. This is more like reading a newspaper.
Sortida a Occident, de Mohsin Hamid, comença sent una història d’amor íntima i emocionant i acaba sent una profecia novel·lada sobre el futur que, globalment, ens espera. En Saeed i la Nadia són dos joves que viuen en un país del qual no se’ns diu el nom però que per les seves característiques -és musulmà i està governat per un règim autoritari contra el qual se subleven milícies integristes- resulta familiar. L’amor entre en Saeed, retret i conservador, i la Nadia, valenta i independent, creix a mesura que el seu país s’esllavissa per l’abisme de la guerra, cosa que els obliga a fugir. És en aquest punt que Hamid es treu de la màniga un cop d’efecte argumental que desplaça les coordenades de gènere de la novel·la. Resulta que, arreu del planeta, han començat a aparèixer portes secretes i especials que transporten qui les travessa a un altre indret del globus. La introducció d’un element tan explícitament fantasiós fa que, després de creure durant tot el terç inicial que ens trobàvem davant d’un relat realista (si bé l’autor va preparant el que vindrà mitjançant unes escenes breus i estranyes), de sobte ens descobrim abocats a una mena de faula futurològica. Exit West is animated – confused, some may think – by this constant motion between genre, between psychological and political space, and between a recent past, an intensified present and a near future. It’s a motion that mirrors that of a planet where millions are trying to slip away “from once fertile plains cracking with dryness, from seaside villages gasping beneath tidal surges, from overcrowded cities and murderous battlefields”.
In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet -- sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors -- doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through. Exit West follows the couple as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. No library descriptions found. |
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54 — Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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