Exit West (2017)

A thought-provoking read which reminds us that we are all migrants in a sense. You'll finish this one before you know it! ( )

Mi viene in mente solo una parola: BOH.
Avevo letto che era il caso editoriale dell'anno, un libro bellissimo, addirittura c'è questa recensione

«"Exit West" è una tale sberla emotiva che continuerete a pensarci per giorni. Perché Hamid non vi sta soltanto raccontando una storia, vi sta chiedendo in che mondo volete vivere.» - The Bookseller

La mia espressione appena chiuso il libro dev'essere stata bellissima da vedere, un grande punto interrogativo sulla mia faccia e un sospirato MAH.

La storia mi ha ricordato in parte "1984", in parte "Il paese delle meraviglie ed la fine del mondo" di Murakami, mi sembra una bella scopiazziatura...
Una banale storia d'amore tra due giovani che vivono in un periodo storico di guerra dove i cosiddetti "nativi" sterminano senza molti scrupoli la popolazione e dove procurarsi il cibo diventa sempre più difficoltoso.
La possibilità di una vita migliore c'è e sono delle porte che proiettano in altri stati dove la situazione politica non è così disperata e i due protagonisti ci provano arrivando a Londra, in Grecia, in America.
Anche lo stesso passaggio attraverso la porta (cosa non nuova a livello di libro) è descritto con una banalità disarmante.
Mi vengono in mente King (22/11/'63) e Murakami con le loro descrizioni particolareggiate dei passaggi spazio-tempo che ti trasmettevano quasi la sensazione di stare davvero attraversando un mondo parallelo. Ecco qui è qualcosa tipo: Passano e si ritrovano di là.
Capsico il paragone con l'attualità dell'immigrazione, della non accoglienza, dello scappare da una guerra, ma mi sembra davvero banalizzato a una cosa solo di fuga e di ricerca di un mondo migliore che non esiste.

E poi una cosa stilistica: 10 righe di periodo con 8 frasi unite da 8 congiunzioni "e" non l'ho proprio retto, le virgole? I punti?
Così per tutto il libro...
Posso essere io che non digerisco questo tipo di trame e di scrittura ma gli regalo 3 stelle tirate tirate! ( )

(17) This book kept being hawked to me by Amazon; Barnes & Noble; LT - I guess based on what I read; though I have never read the author's more well-know "The Reluctant Fundamentalist." It was really just 'OK' for me; an extra half-star because it did strike a chord with me that has been lying dormant regarding forced migration to other countries that don't want you - this is obviously a big issue in the US currently and one that has caused conflict for me personally. This book succeeding in making me choose the better side of my human nature, I guess. By pointing out we are all migrants and where are ancestors are from and/or the color of our skin is really immaterial to the basic human desire to survive, and pursue a meaningful life.

Nadia and Saeed have newly met and fallen in love yet are caught in a war-torn country - seemingly some Arab spring type place (?Yemen, ?Syria.) It seems the time is now or maybe the near future and a series of secret doors (essentially I think representing illegal immigration) open up and allow them to escape the violence and oppression. And yet - they arrive in countries that are xenophobic, and anti-immigrant. They sleep in the open, struggle for food, and are forced to live in the shadows. All during the story of their falling in and out of love during this journey are interwoven other cryptic stories of other families effected by mass immigration. These smaller stories are decidedly (for me, anyway) NOT engaging and often made me drift away or put down the book. The book began to have a bit too much of a dystopian, magical realism vibe and began to really turn me off after awhile. Fortunately, it was short, so I am left with mostly mediocre to warm feelings about the novel. But it was a close thing.

I think Saeed and Nadia's relationship and Saeed's parents were the strongest part of the novel. I really liked the beginning when they first met and were discovering each other in a time of war and uncertainty. But once they emigrated, I really lost interest. I found that the novel became increasingly pretentious - vague, dream-like, a bit cryptic - I hate that sh*t unless you have really set the stage for me to be intrigued. Books that have been successful with that sort of thing for me have been Lively's 'Moontiger,' 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin,' and Morrison's 'Beloved.' But - I don't think Hamid pulled it off.

Anyway, very lukewarm. But an affecting picture of normal people forced to emigrate for their own survival due to war and conflict not of their own making. How can we be so unwelcoming? ( )

2/10. Rarely has an author's prose annoyed me this much. (I won't forget "It was, not unsurprisingly, surprisingly good." for a long time. ( )

Exit West is about Nadia and Saeed, who live in a nameless war torn Muslim country, most likely in the Middle East. Saeed is a devout Muslim, while Nadia is an independent non-believer who is single, yet lives alone in her own apartment, which is almost unheard of. They meet at a night class and soon begin a relationship. They decide to leave their country in search of a better life. They find a magical door and walk through it. On the other side is the Greek island of Mykonos. After living there for a while, they go through another door and end up somewhere else, and so on. Their relationship evolves and eventually devolves throughout their journey. Hamid’s depiction of the disintegration of a relationship was so authentic, I thought it was amazing.

I thought using the doors as a device to get Nadia and Saeed from place to place was inventive and creative. This allowed Hamid to focus on their lives as immigrants in the places they traveled to without getting bogged down in all of the red tape that immigrating in real life involves. There’s no way they could have lived in so many places otherwise.

My book club read Exit West a few months ago – it was a great selection. It brings up so many issues related to immigration and refugees to talk about. Nadia is an interesting person to discuss as well. Though she is not religious, she wears traditional Muslim dress, even when she and Saeed move to other countries. We talked about why she does this as well as about Nadia and Saeed’s relationship. Recommended. ( )