Exit West

This is a dream-like book that blends realism and fantasy in a magical way that makes it all seem possible. Early in the book the narrator observes that "one moment we are pottering about our errands as usual and the next we are dying." (p 4)
The narrator tells of a young couple who manage to meet and kindle a love that transports them through life and time to a place where they can live as each chooses in spite of the vicissitudes of the world around them.
In an unnamed city on the brink of civil war, Saeed and Nadia meet while taking an adult education course. The following day, Saeed can’t stop thinking about her while he whiles away his time at a local advertising firm.

Before continuing the story of Saeed and Nadia the narrative show more cuts to a vignette of a white woman sleeping in her bedroom in Australia. As she dozes, a dark-skinned man slowly emerges from the darkness of her closet, a darkness that is blacker and more absolute than the rest of the lightless room. After he emerges from this mysterious door, the man walks quietly through the bedroom before slipping out the open window. This seemingly unrelated incident will prove a portent of events later in the lives of Saeed and Nadia.

The narrative shifts back to Saeed and Nadia and as it continues, shifts back and forth between them. Saeed lives at home with his parents in a small apartment that used to be quite elegant but is now somewhat tired, a “crowded and commercial” neighborhood having grown up around it. Nadia grew up in a deeply religious household, but she never felt drawn to this kind of faith. When she decided to move out on her own even though she wasn’t married, her parents and sister were incensed, and because she was unwilling to compromise, their relationship was destroyed.
As Saeed and Nadia’s begin a modern sort of courtship, the city plunges inexorably into turmoil, as militant radicals overtake the neighborhoods, killing bystanders and government officials in order to establish dominance. Nonetheless, Saeed and Nadia manage to live somewhat normal lives. One night, they sit on Nadia’s balcony and eat magic mushrooms before drawing close and becoming physically intimate for the first time. This intimacy continues in subsequent meetings, but Saeed stops Nadia each time before they have sex, telling her—to her disappointment—that he wants to wait until marriage.

Before long, the government shuts off all cellphone service in an attempt to make it harder for the militant radicals to control the city. As a result, Nadia and Saeed are cut off from one another, unable to communicate until Saeed finally shows up at Nadia’s house. Not long thereafter, Saeed’s mother is hit by a stray bullet that kills her. When Nadia sees how distraught Saeed and his father are after the funeral, she decides to move in with them. Tensions escalate quickly in the city, and Saeed, Nadia, and Saeed’s father find themselves unable to lead the lives they once enjoyed.
Also, about this time, rumors start circulating about black doors that can transport people from one place to another, taking them far away. Apparently, these doors simply appear in the place of regular doors, and many of the city’s inhabitants actively seek them out as a way of escaping the violent radicals. In spite of the danger of using these doors to leave Nadia and Saeed eventually do so. Their experiences in Greece, London, and northern California comprise the remainder of the story.

Each of the episodes are presented very realistically with their lives buffeted by competing claims of both the need to maintain a daily life and the emotions of their personal relationship. Their story is told in a way that gradually builds the reader's interest up to the last page of the novel. I found myself agreeing with the narrator that "We are all migrants through time." (p 209) The fantastic element allowed one to meditate on the migration of people throughout the world and what it means to leave your family behind and join a new community of people - both natives and others. show less

How will the developed nations react to the increasing pressures of immigration as war, climate change or lack of resources force more people to seek new homes? What will happen to the concept of national borders and what adjustments will be required by both immigrants and "nativists"? These issues and much more will linger in your mind after reading Exit West, a novel of aching beauty. Hamid keeps the tone light and thoughtful, rather than focusing on grim details as we move between countries with Nadia and Saeed. The magical construct of doors that provide nearly instantaneous passage to a new location allows the author to focus on how the characters evolve in each situation. Coming from vastly different family situations, Nadia and show more Saeed face the pressures of changing circumstances in different ways, but their relationship remains one of loyalty and respect. This beautifully written book will leave me reflecting on many things and I am look forward to discussing it with others. show less

I'm not usually a fan of magical realism, but I find this romance and examination of the global refugee crisis quite haunting and thought provoking. This could easily have been a Stephen King style epic apocalyptic thriller, but I like the bittersweet optimism Hamid brings to his little fable.

Exit West is the story of two Muslim lovers, Saeed and Nadia, refugees from a city torn by civil war. Saeed is a conservative Muslim, whereas Nadia is more worldly and liberal. The two meet, fall in love and end up living together under Saeed's father's roof in an arrangement that, while innocent, would attract serious punishment from the fundamentalists. At the urging of Saeed's father, the two escape.

Hamid's twist in this novel is that refugees can escape from their plight via portals that open up and allow them to go instantly to other places, without knowing what they will encounter there. Perhaps this is just a narrative device allowing him to skip accounts of perilous sea voyages and so on, but he does not really try to explain or show more justify the existence of these portals; they just are. I thought this weakened the book because, while authors can include pretty much anything in the worlds they invent, it is better if there is some rhyme or reason behind major plot devices such as this.

Hamid follows the two lovers on their journey as refugees and maps the pressures and changes in their relationship as this journey goes on. Once they are extracted from their home city via the portal they land in various places where their treatment can be quite different. Hamid places them in a refugee camp, in urban squats and in a purpose-built city, reflecting the various ways that refugees tend to be managed in the real world, and examines how these lives affect the people forced into them. Perhaps a key difference from reality is that Saeed and Nadia, due to Hamid's invented portals, have a lot more control over their fate than the millions currently languishing around the world with no hope at all. show less

Saeed and Nadia meet and fall in love. But they live in a city where militants are taking over, and soon the two decide they must leave, going through one of the doors to, hopefully, a better life. In each place they journey, they find themselves with fellow refugees and migrants, dealing with the attitudes of the "natives" in the places they arrive. Each door is a chance - will they end up someplace better? And as they change, react, and carve out lives for themselves, their relationship morphs along with them.

Through his story, Hamid challenges the reader to think about the arbitrary boundaries we make between countries, between "us" and "them". The form of their travel from place to place, going through doors and just ending up in show more another country, reminded me a little of the magical realism aspect of The Underground Railroad. I enjoyed the spare prose and grappling with the situations in which Saeed and Nadia find themselves as they try to make a place for themselves in the world. show less

There's something about Mohsin Hamid's prose which I find to carry such a calm, and this book is no different. The story of Saeed and Nadia's relationship, from its beginning on through their escape from their war-torn country and coming to settle into spaces elsewhere, is a languid and gorgeous exploration of what it means to grow together and grow apart against trauma, conflict, and the passage of time. And while Hamid doesn't often go into the details of the trauma, he presents their world in such a way that we understand its harshness through the prism of the news we see every day now, particularly in relation to Gaza, which brings additional depth without dwelling in the details that would refocus the book into something else show more entirely.

I've seen some reviews complaining about the element of magical realism, but I'll be honest: I see it as a touch of genius. It allows us to see the emotions and difficulties and uncertainties of a traumatized population and sudden migrations without getting bogged down in the details of border passages that would/could change from border to border, moment to moment. Readers can't argue, 'It's not like that, really' instead of allowing themselves to be adjust to the emotions and accept the difficulties. Because of how Hamid has styled the book, it's not the logistics that matter--it's the people, and the lives they're attempting to live.

I admit that the ending of the book, for me, felt somewhat rushed, but that doesn't take away from the gorgeous book Hamid has written or from the emotions and journeys depicted here. This is a book to dwell in emotionally and then share, translating what it means and portrays onto the world we're attempting to survive as a global community.

Absolutely recommended. show less

In an unnamed middle eastern country, two young people, Nadia and Saeed, meet and begin to fall in love as their country is torn apart by violence and dictatorship. As the situation grows untenable, Nadia and Saeed decide to take the plunge and flee their country through one of the magical doors that have appeared across the world allowing people to traverse thousands of miles in a moment without knowing where they will end up.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book but I ended up loving it. Hamid's prose is gorgeous and poetic and Nadia and Saeed's story is passionate, heartbreaking, and realistic. I can see the magical realism not working for some, but I'm a fan. 4.5 stars.