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Exit West

Mohsin Hamid

3.79 · Rating details · 109,006 ratings · 13,302 reviews

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 whisper ...more

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Hardcover, 1st, 231 pages

Published March 7th 2017 by Riverhead

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· 109,006 ratings · 13,302 reviews

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Mar 30, 2017 Emily May rated it really liked it

Shelves: modern-lit, 2017, magical-realism, botm

“When we migrate, we murder from our lives those we leave behind.”

I thought this book was quietly brutal. And quietly beautiful, as well.

If you've come here looking for magical realism, I would advise against it. Exit West contains only the barest of fantastical elements - essentially, metaphorical doors or portals that symbolize the migrant experience. This is not explored in any depth and serves only to propel the characters from their unnamed homeland to Greece, then London, then America. ...more

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Aug 08, 2017 Barry Pierce rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 21st-century, read-in-2017

I rarely ever do this, but I'm rating and reviewing this even though I haven't finished it. I just cannot continue. Exit West is one of the most bitterly disappointing and downright awful novels I have read in a long while.

The novel begins with Nadia and Saeed, a couple living in an unnamed Middle-Eastern city. This setting and story is what we come to expect from Hamid, who also wrote the flawed but admirable The Reluctant Fundamentalist. The city is crumbling around Nadia and Saeed, blackouts I rarely ever do this, but I'm rating and reviewing this even though I haven't finished it. I just cannot continue. Exit West is one of the most bitterly disappointing and downright awful novels I have read in a long while.

The novel begins with Nadia and Saeed, a couple living in an unnamed Middle-Eastern city. This setting and story is what we come to expect from Hamid, who also wrote the flawed but admirable The Reluctant Fundamentalist. The city is crumbling around Nadia and Saeed, blackouts are frequent, the water supply is often cut and drones hover overhead at all times. But yet, despite these enormous setbacks and struggles, they live on. If the novel were just the couple and their fight to live in their city, then what a wonderful book it would have been. I truthfully absolutely loved these initial scenes. They are a fascinating study of a couple in wartime. But then Hamid fucks everything up.

Hamid, possessed by his own ego and the spirit of Salman Rushdie, decides that this perfectly serviceable novel needs something extra. A little bit of magic needed to be injected into the story. Literally. For some unknown reason, Hamid has these magical doors pop up all around the world. Doorways that lead you to anywhere in the world. You step into a door in the Middle East and suddenly you are on Mykonos. This concept sounded familiar to me, but I couldn't pinpoint it exactly. So I read on.

It is inevitable that our couple is shown to one of these doors and are whisked away from their city and their lives. The second they step foot into the magical door is when the novel goes from fairly good to absolute shit. Why did Hamid add this ridiculous conceit to this novel? Why would he sabotage himself like this? I tried to ignore all door nonsense, but then it happened again. Hamid completely abandoned his great story of a couple in wartime to focus on his stupid doors. And then it hit me. I knew where I had seen this concept before.

It's Monsters Inc.

This book is fucking Monsters Inc.

The moment I realised this I just could not continue. I had to end it. And thus we are here. I'd like to say that I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed but I am angry and disappointed. Hamid's ridiculous urge to write magical realism is possibly one of the most ill-fated attempts at cross-genre literature ever. It could have been so great if his editor had just said, hey Mohsin, you have a great novel here but all this door shit has to go. It's a shame. Think of what we could have had. ...more

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Mar 12, 2017 Maxwell rated it it was amazing

Shelves: owned

I want to shove this book into everyone's hands and say, "READ IT." Undoubtedly the best book I've read so far this year and one of the best I will probably read in 2017. Hamid's writing is lush and evocative and so, so beautiful. The story of immigration is incredibly important for today, but it's told in a timeless fashion; the magical realism is done so tastefully and imaginatively and works so well for the story. He probes into the minds of our two main characters, Nadia and Saeed, in such a ...more

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May 25, 2017 Ariel rated it really liked it

Very fascinatingly, I think I would have liked this book more if I had never read the synopsis.

The synopsis makes it sound like we're going to have two lovers who are in a city that is becoming a war zone and then discover magical doors that lead them far away and it's hard but they have each other. That's definitely what happens... but it's also really not what happens. I'd say that's the first third of this book. If I were to give a synopsis it would be: Two people meet and because their city ...more

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Mar 08, 2017 Larry H rated it it was amazing

Sam, I have you to thank for this one.

"In a city swollen by refugees but still mostly at peace, or at least not yet openly at war, a young man met a young woman in a classroom and did not speak to her."

So begins Mohsin Hamid's extraordinary new novel, Exit West . At once both sharply current and dreamily magical, this book is social commentary, fantasy, and an emotion-laded look at how we crave connection even in the most chaotic, the bleakest of times.

While reading this book, all I could thi ...more

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Jan 20, 2017 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it

Shelves: lor

4+. We need more books like this, or no, maybe that's wrong, what we need are more readers of books like this. The country it takes place is unnamed, but one part makes it sound as if it is in Asia somewhere. A country under siege by opposing parties, a country at war with itself, a dangerous place, how so many in this world live in constant danger, constant war.

Saeed and Nadia meet, forge a relationship, when their country erupts in violence, it becomes unlivable. They seek ways to leave, hire ...more

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Apr 14, 2017 Snotchocheez rated it liked it

2.5 stars

What started out to be a gorgeously haunting look at life in a Middle East city at the brink of civil war turned ponderous and perplexing by the end of Mohsin Hamid's slim novel Exit West.

In an unnamed city in an unnamed Middle Eastern country (not unlike the similarly themed Guapa by Saleem Haddad), two young professionals (Saeed, a quiet, pious man who lives with his parents and works for an advertising firm specializing in billboards and bus placards; and Nadia, an enigmatic "bla 2.5 stars

What started out to be a gorgeously haunting look at life in a Middle East city at the brink of civil war turned ponderous and perplexing by the end of Mohsin Hamid's slim novel Exit West.

In an unnamed city in an unnamed Middle Eastern country (not unlike the similarly themed Guapa by Saleem Haddad), two young professionals (Saeed, a quiet, pious man who lives with his parents and works for an advertising firm specializing in billboards and bus placards; and Nadia, an enigmatic "black-robe" wearing, motorcycle riding, lone wolf of a woman who works at an insurance agency) cross paths while taking a class at a college. It's not immediately clear what the attraction is between the two (perhaps just the uncertainty of warring militants wreaking havoc on their respective neighborhoods and the government's iron-fisted response resulting in massive bloodshed and escalating body counts from combatants and civilians alike) but the two uneasily bond, navigating the imposed curfews, dodging the outbreaks of terroristic violence to provide companionship for each other. As the violence escalates, massive blackouts, food and water shortages ensue, and Saeed and Nadia are forced to stay away from their jobs and hole up in their apartments, caught in the crossfire between the insurgent militants and the government's bombing raids. As life in the city becomes increasingly untenable, they decide to flee for their lives.

And that's when the bottom falls out for me, when the hyperrealism of the couple's plight, so vividly and convincingly displayed by Hamid in the first half of the novel, takes a bizarre CS Lewis-ian turn toward unreality (in a way, reminiscent of Cora's flight north from the slave hunter in The Underground Railroad), using scattered, secret doors as portals for Saeed's and Nadia's means for escape.

I liked Hamid's idea, but his choice (in contrast to the extremely well-written set-up) just left me lost in the lurch. From that point (of taking a turn toward speculative fiction) onward, everything felt hastily written and not especially thought out well. Compounding matters is the very skimpy length (an additional 75 pages or so more could have afforded a much better explanation for those doors, and what happens beyond them). Things that I enjoyed about Hamid's writing style in the first half really started annoying me the more I became frustrated (the two biggest problems: the run-on, grammatically unsound sentences, and the dearth of dialogue between characters.)

I'm glad I read this novel, as its subject matter is timely and salient, and allowed me to finally be acquainted with Mr. Hamid's work, but ultimately, Exit West didn't quite work for me. More patient readers than I am might be able to abide his flights of fancy here, but I was left cold by this strange take on the refugee experience. ...more

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Apr 01, 2017 Adam Dalva rated it it was amazing

I really loved this book, and can say without hyperbole that it accomplishes one of - or in my opinion, THE - main goal of fiction: it generates empathy that allows us to better understand our world. The story here is a close allegory of the contemporary migrant experience, and the clever use of a surrealist device (I won't spoil it) and the close 3rd realism with which the two leads are drawn makes a deep, lasting impact.

The surreal/real mix is echoed in Hamid's clever mingling of classicism a I really loved this book, and can say without hyperbole that it accomplishes one of - or in my opinion, THE - main goal of fiction: it generates empathy that allows us to better understand our world. The story here is a close allegory of the contemporary migrant experience, and the clever use of a surrealist device (I won't spoil it) and the close 3rd realism with which the two leads are drawn makes a deep, lasting impact.

The surreal/real mix is echoed in Hamid's clever mingling of classicism and the contemporary - EXIT WEST is a firm rebuke to those who argue that novels can't incorporate modern technology without feeling overly experimental. Phones and the internet replace letters and nostalgia, and in that replacement they show that it's possible to achieve strong feelings through our devices. The violence is a contradiction too; it's both brutal and largely occurs passively, off-screen, a rumor with glimpses of horror at the periphery (a soccer game, a bloody ceiling).

Best of all, this is a love story, and a good one. You find yourself caring for both Nadia and Saeed, veering between indignation for one and the other, with the great callbacks and setups that make real-life relationships feel plotted. The best, most difficult love stories necessitate rooting for the individuals even more than the coupling, and Hamid pulls it off.

I did feel the book could be a touch longer, and in its desire to make itself universal, it perhaps suffers a touch from its non-specifics. This is not a criticism, exactly, but it's a clear choice by Hamid to name and map the Western world while consigning Nadia and Saeed to Anytown, and I sometimes felt the frustration of that vagueness. On the other hand, to leave leaders and politics totally out of it and only show the effect of their decisions felt exactly right. And we don't miss the scene lesser writers might have given us in which a scientist leans back in his chair and gives a hazily realistic explanation for the surreality.

A late twist with Nadia, on the other hand (you'll know the one), felt a bit out of nowhere and could have used one more beat of set-up to make it feel earned. I'm not complaining about the plot-point, exactly, but the novel's sparseness makes certain second-half maneuvers feel schematic in comparison to the rich world of the beginning.

I won't spoil the ending, but it works too. Almost all of this does. I sense that, as so often happens, an ocean of political hype might soon drown out the literary achievement here. Don't fall for it. ...more

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Feb 17, 2018 Sean Barrs rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-lit, magical-realism, 2-star-reads

Exit West had the potential to be the greatest novel published in the last ten years. I don’t say such things liberally; it really did have a certain power due to it being so politically conscious, though somehow it failed to deliver what it could have done.

Let us rewind a little. Exit West begins in an undisclosed east, in a city at war. The corrupt government is subsequently toppled and the new regime isn’t exactly any better. The ordinary citizens, those with no particular political ties, are Exit West had the potential to be the greatest novel published in the last ten years. I don’t say such things liberally; it really did have a certain power due to it being so politically conscious, though somehow it failed to deliver what it could have done.

Let us rewind a little. Exit West begins in an undisclosed east, in a city at war. The corrupt government is subsequently toppled and the new regime isn’t exactly any better. The ordinary citizens, those with no particular political ties, are forced to do whatever they are told by whoever happens to be in power. Post-revolutionaries don’t exactly make life any better.

Enter Nadia and Saeed. They fall in love in the chaos that is approaching. The real world matters are pushed aside as they deal with the only real matter in their lives. They ignore the gunfire and the explosions and simply live for each other. Everything else is inconsequential until their lives become drastically threatened. Their freedom is a risk and as such they long for escape; they wish to leave the east and, as the title suggests, exit west. They leave much behind them in their bid for freedom though they know that, ultimately, it is worth it because they have each other. And here’s where the novel goes shooting down the toilet at light speed.

The only thing that would save it for me is a drastic re-writing of the last one hundred pages. As soon as the lovers exited west, all power the story had was wasted because of the mundane nature of what they then faced. I needed drama and I needed angry people and contentious political comment. Instead I got nothing. And this is where the novel’s potential was missed. What began as a political allegory ended as a petty domestic dispute. It would have been far more effective if when Nadia and Saeed finally exited west, they were met with all the issues surrounding immigration and refugees. I wanted to see hostility and fear in the eyes of the westerners, I wanted to Moshin Hamid tackle one of the most politically sensitive issues of our age. Had he written such a thing, from the perspective of the refugee, I think it would have been an exceedingly timely piece of writing.

It fell apart. Nadia and Saeed focus on matters of survival as the narrative goes absolutely nowhere. They shift from place to place as no progress is made within the writing other than the slow degrading of their relationship. For me, it all felt like one terribly large wasted opportunity. The author could have done so much more here.

And to quote the author to illustrate my point:

“When we migrate, we murder from our lives those we leave behind.”

When the characters migrated, Hamid murdered the potential of this novel leaving it behind in the dust. It was such a bitter disappointment because this novel could have been exceptional: it so nearly was. ...more

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Aug 17, 2017 Hannah Greendale rated it really liked it

Shelves: literary-fiction, adult, fiction, booker-prize-nominee

Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.

...more

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Aug 09, 2017 Adina rated it liked it

Shelves: booker, british, pakistan

I finished Exist West almost a month ago and my review will reflect that because I tend to quickly forget details. Yeah, my memory is not that good. It took me a while to write a review due to a combination of hectic days at work and a new kitty at home (our first one).

Waiting so long to review also had its perks as I decided to change my rating from 4 to 3. I did not remain with the impression that it was a book that I would warmly recommend. Also, I was lucky to read the much better Home Fire ...more

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Aug 09, 2017 Violet wells rated it really liked it

There’s a clue early on that Mohsin Hamid posits attachment to place, even cultural identity as skin deep, an adaptation rather than any quintessential expression of identity. Nadia, the heroine, covers herself in black veils but as a defence against predatory or bigoted males rather than as an expression of religious or cultural conviction. Living spaces in this novel are depicted as temporary, transient, replacable. Even national identity is largely a series of acquisitions and adaptations, ra There’s a clue early on that Mohsin Hamid posits attachment to place, even cultural identity as skin deep, an adaptation rather than any quintessential expression of identity. Nadia, the heroine, covers herself in black veils but as a defence against predatory or bigoted males rather than as an expression of religious or cultural conviction. Living spaces in this novel are depicted as temporary, transient, replacable. Even national identity is largely a series of acquisitions and adaptations, rather than some ineradicable essence of our being. National identity when articulated in language is so often just bigotry. I remember during Brexit the Brits who spouted off about national identity were individuals who made me feel ashamed of my country. If that’s what being British is you can lump it. What even is national identity? To my mind about 80% of it is simply speaking the language of the country you live in, the simple ability to communicate – which is why tourism might easily be seen as a more lethal contributor to cultural homogeneity than immigration: ask any Venetian. I’ve lived half of my life in Italy; Italians tell me I’m more Italian than British. But this isn’t true. I haven’t had to change much about myself to live in Italy. I go to a bar for breakfast; I gesture more with my hands than I did in England. But it’s wholly irrelevant that I’m not catholic for example. To fit in I’ve barely had to change anything about myself. So if there is such a thing as national identity and it’s linked to cultural identity – both essentially dubious notions in my view otherwise why would I find myself relating much more to a Somalian jewellery designer than the neighbours of my parents? – you could say the true enemy is not the immigrant but the tourist, who rarely learns the language of the visited country. Hamid is saying we're all, in the context of history, migrants, just as we're all tourists. There’s a distinction between Hamid’s two central characters, Nadia and Saeed: she is open to change, he, more the tourist in mindset, far less so. The magical device Hamid uses in this novel might on the one hand been seen as the digital ease with which we can now move about the planet but can also be seen as a metaphor for the travel agency in all its modern myriad forms, including people smuggling. There’s a nice little aside from a Native American in California towards the end of this book which brings home how absurd many of our concepts of national identity are.

It’s probably invalid to criticise an author for not doing something he had no intention of doing but I’m going to do it anyway. Hamid is so caught up with presenting a big picture that he often seems to neglect his characters. Sometimes they’re unable to articulate his ideas so he introduces a fleeting character of convenience who can. It was like the ideas of this book left his two central characters behind. At times it can seem more like some kind of brilliantly imagined essay than a novel. Perhaps that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m all for extending the boundaries of what a novel can achieve. But his virtual indifference to developing character began to make this novel seem like the literary equivalent of an air-conditioned environment for me. There was no weather. There was one particular moment when I most strongly felt this. The two refugees are in London and face racism and xenophobic nationalism in the form of a rioting crowd. The entire scene is depicted as if through a wide angle lens. It’s impersonal in nature. I couldn’t help feeling it would have been much more powerful and emotionally engaging had the author shown these two refugees being racially insulted close up by a small group of individuals and wondering why he didn’t do this. Racism at its most emotionally disturbing for me is when I see footage of one or more individuals insult another individual face to face. When the hate and hurt caused are of a highly personal nature. That’s when empathy for the victim is at its most powerful. And as a result of the impersonal nature of the hostility it seemed to have little effect on the character of the characters. They just drifted off to the next location with barely a metaphorical scratch. As the novel progressed the camera angle got wider and wider until I could barely make them out anymore. The ideas utterly dwarfed them. It felt more and more like this novel was written as a warning and the central thesis felt like a corset the characters were forced to wear which prevented them from developing as characters. They ended up little more than shadow shapes flitting over the globe – on the one hand brilliantly indicative of a universal modern truth but on the other frustrating from the point of view of my need to relate to the characters I read about.

Exit West is a tough one to star rate. Probably the most straightforward way to rate a novel is simply by how much you enjoyed reading it. If someone hated reading The Waves or War and Peace then why shouldn’t she give it one star irrespective of how much literary merit it might have? But sometimes we’re able to admire what we feel little love for, like the eloquence of a politician all of whose convictions we disagree with. Not that I disagreed with Hamid’s convictions but I can’t really say I loved this novel as a novel, though it was hugely thought provoking and extremely relevant to the times we live in. ...more

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Oct 07, 2018 Always Pouting rated it really liked it · review of another edition

In a country with civil unrest and a brewing civil war, Nadia and Saeed meet one another in their night class. As they come to rely on one another in the middle of the chaos and instability consuming their country, their friendship deepens into a relationship. As the circumstances in their country deteriorate, rumors begin to go around about doors that aren't just normal doors, but doors that can take people to places far away. Eventually things become so dire that Nadia and Saeed decide to them In a country with civil unrest and a brewing civil war, Nadia and Saeed meet one another in their night class. As they come to rely on one another in the middle of the chaos and instability consuming their country, their friendship deepens into a relationship. As the circumstances in their country deteriorate, rumors begin to go around about doors that aren't just normal doors, but doors that can take people to places far away. Eventually things become so dire that Nadia and Saeed decide to themselves find one of these doors in an effort to escape.

Spoilers ahead probably? Anyway I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I started out really enjoying it, especially the dynamics it showed between Nadia and Saeed. The fact that two such different characters ended up coming to rely on one another so much so and the way that the conflict seemed to play a significant factor in that was really interesting. Especially as the book goes on and we see that the two drift apart. It brings up a lot of questions about what brings two people together and the role shared experiences and trauma can play.

But then there was that door thing, and just I'm not sure why, but it didn't work for me. I know when we read fiction we have to suspend disbelief but I just couldn't do it. It was a really interesting idea but I guess I just wasn't in the head space to get into it. It was a good way to address ongoing problems we will be having in the future though. Especially with climate change, displacement of people will only grow and the problems brought up in the book will be relevant.

For me personally the book started out strong but as it went on I kind of felt less invested and I just wasn't sure where the book was going and I don't know how I feel about how it ends. I just usually prefer when there's a clear structure to the plot when I read books, and this was just more realistic and messy like life tends to be. It was still really well written and I did enjoy it. I just wish the door thing hadn't felt so hard to believe and that I had been able to continue to be immersed in the novel after that was introduced. ...more

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Apr 17, 2017 Elyse Walters rated it really liked it

Saeed and Nadia are contemporary young adults who come together "in a city swollen by refugees but still mostly at peace, or at least not yet by war".

Nadia is living alone - as a young single female. When she leaves her flat, she wears a flowing black robe over her jeans and sweater which completely covers every inch of her body. This is her choice.

Why would a modern thinking young woman - who rides a motorbike - who attends business classes - who chooses to live alone -
who buys her own pot an ...more

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Jun 30, 2017 Katie rated it liked it

Shelves: published-2017

I read this with very high expectations because of all the hype. I ended up wondering if a lot of the praise it’s received has more to do with its subject matter than its quality as a novel.

Its subject matter is the plight of refugees – without question one of the most potentially moving and pertinent stories offered by the world we live in. But this novel was oddly unmoving for the most part, due to the somewhat anaemic and dispassionate nature of its two central characters. Saeed and Nadia bot I read this with very high expectations because of all the hype. I ended up wondering if a lot of the praise it’s received has more to do with its subject matter than its quality as a novel.

Its subject matter is the plight of refugees – without question one of the most potentially moving and pertinent stories offered by the world we live in. But this novel was oddly unmoving for the most part, due to the somewhat anaemic and dispassionate nature of its two central characters. Saeed and Nadia both begin the novel as fascinating characters. We’re not told where they live though we can’t help thinking Syria. Nadia rides a motorbike, has disowned her family, lives alone in her own apartment and yet wears a black gown – as a kind of protective disguise rather than a symbol of any religious belief. You could therefore say she’s already a long way down the path to being “westernised”. Saeed is more grounded in tradition. It’s as if Hamid wants to give us two characters who don’t radically differ from us in the West, characters we can easily identify with. But to do this he ends up making them a bit bland. When they fall in love Nadia is willing to have sex, Saeed isn’t. Then the militants arrive.

The most undocumented, harrowing and dangerous part of a refugee’s life is absent from this novel– the journey from besieged homeland to the west. We don’t see the escape from the militant strangehold, the boat trip or the detention centre on Europe’s shores – in other words all the parts of the perilous and demeaning experience that are most likely to make a deep and changing impression on an individual’s character. And not only do we not see them we don’t feel the characters have experienced them, so unchanged do they remain. They make the transition from the horrors of a war torn country to “sanctuary” in the West with barely a hair on their head ruffled. Hamid uses a device called magic doors to get his characters from one place to another. (Virginia Woolf once complained about the necessity of getting a character from A to B as a woeful limitation of the novel’s form but I’m not sure what she had in mind as an alternative was the device Hamid uses.) Is this device clever or is it a failure of imagination? I’m afraid I’d opt for the latter. The narrative adheres to images we’re familiar with; it excludes the ones we’re not. Because the main problem I had with this novel is that Saeed and Nadia don’t really develop as characters throughout the novel, they never became vivid and living to me, their plight never moved me. They remained strangely neutered. They were too relentlessly rational in a world that was insanely irrational. They were like people experiencing the horrors on social media rather than on their nerves and skin.

London gets a very raw deal in this novel. It’s depicted as a place where natavists – xenophobic nationalists – are on the warpath in large numbers. Hamid’s idea of London has far more in common with Donald Trump’s notions about it than any reality I recognise. London voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU and the Labour party recently annihilated the Tories in virtually every borough. If there’s one place in Europe which has a welcoming attitude towards migrants London could hold itself up as a candidate. Perhaps it doesn’t matter very much because this is a novel that gingerly remains one step removed from the real world. But if the city of Saeed and Nadia’s birth is never mentioned why single London out?

Probably I’ve concentrated exclusively on what didn’t work for me so I should say that I think Hamid is a very good writer – there are lots of excellent passages. I enjoyed the film of another of his novels. But this left me virtually unmoved which I can’t help seeing as a failure given the unchartered, volatile and heartbreaking potential of its subject matter.
...more

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Oct 27, 2018 Elle (ellexamines) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lgbtq, x-schoolreads, characters-of-color, she-did-that, z-2018reads, y-2017releases, z-2018favs, favorite-characters, postcolonial, elle-recs-list

“Why do you wear that if you don’t pray?”
“So men don’t fuck with me.”

And I kind of knew I would love this from the moment Nadia said this and then donned a motorcycle helmet and rode off like a bad bitch, but oh my god, this was a really good book.

So this book is a love story, but not the love story you expect. One of the narratives I’ve heard about this book is that its intermingling of the world and of the romance feels muddled, and I understand that; however, for me, this in ...more

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Aug 28, 2016 Carol rated it really liked it

Shelves: islam-both-religion-culture, favorites, not-united-states, books-i-own, immigrant-experience, romance, middle-east

Hamid's novels seem to produce extreme reactions. I am in the camp that finds his writing, his perspective, his understanding of human nature, of history, of lovers, of life, and his run-on sentences (see what I did there?) to be magical. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is a book I found to be stunning. Almost no one talks about it. On the other hand, everyone read and talks about The Reluctant Fundamentalist, a novel I found to be fine, but not special. Exit West has a great deal more in ...more

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Feb 22, 2017 Iris P rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 2017-favorites, immersion-reading, audio-books, for-non-conformist, literary-fiction

Exit West

Mohsin Hamid photo p017j094_zpsg5ibtgnd.jpg

Mohsin Hamid - The Author

We are all migrants through time
Moshin Hamid - Exit West

***********************************************

Literature fulfills many roles in our lives. We read to learn about a certain topic, to develop a deeper sense of empathy, in search of enlightenment or just as a pure source of escapism. In Exit West, author Mohsin Hamid pursues a highly idealistic but worthy goal, namely, to give us a story that regards our planet's geography, its borders, and resources i ...more

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Feb 24, 2017 Trish rated it it was amazing

Shelves: africa, south-america, america, family, latin-america, ebook, europe, fiction, edelweiss, war

People are on the move in Hamid’s latest book, south to north and east to west. This strange little novel definitely has the feel of a season of sense8, the Netflix Original production about shifts in consciousness, space, and time. Hamid’s characters, Nadia and Saeed, experience the bending of time and place, as when they leave their own war-torn country on the Asian subcontinent, a “passage both like dying and like being born.”

Hamid’s female character Nadia, who insists on being draped in a bl ...more

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Dec 29, 2016 Sam rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2016-reads

For when we migrate, we murder from our lives those we leave behind.

Though a thin slip of a novel, Exit West packs a powerful punch cloaked subtly in a quiet but dynamic tale of migration, told in exquisite yet plain language that is thought provoking and soothing and enraging and just plain beautiful. Nadia and Saeed of a unnamed nation are the focal points, and we follow their journey through young love in a country on the precipice of civil war, to unsteady allies as unwanted refugees in ...more

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Jun 09, 2017 Fionnuala added it · review of another edition

Shelves: exile, 2017

Early in this book about exile, there is a tiny little scene featuring a telescope.

When I read that scene, I immediately thought, yes, looking through a telescope is a perfect metaphor to use in a book that sets out to examine the plight of people whom the majority of the book’s readers may not otherwise see close up.

If I picked up on that minor scene, it was because I'd been thinking about telescopes in relation to another book about exile I'd been reading, Us & Them, which, like a metaphori ...more

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Nov 13, 2018 Liz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-clubs

My mind is full to overflowing with thoughts about this book. It’s a beautifully written book, although at times it’s overwhelming. And there were parts of it that just totally confused me.

I love how it deals with the fears of citizens trapped in a city torn apart. “...warriors on both sides who seemed content to flatten it in order to possess it.” It takes you so fully into that environment. I loved how the younger generations, for whom cell phones and internet were a given, were laid low when ...more

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Sep 02, 2018 Kevin Kelsey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, read-2018

Posted at Heradas

Mohsin Hamid has created something wonderful with this endearing, and perfectly formed short novel. What an evocative and striking way to discuss refugees, ideological war, tribalism, and love. This book broke through my exterior barriers and nurtured something tender inside of me. It seems for the most part, people are really the same, and we all want the same things regardless of where we come from: security, companionship, and the means to better ourselves. The things we’ve l ...more

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Feb 21, 2018 Paromjit rated it really liked it

Shelves: literary-fiction, netgalley

This is a brilliant and moving read from Mohsin Hamid which provides a critically imperative and timely novel of the urgency of contemporary global issues with the rising tide of displaced refugees and migrants. In beautiful prose, Hamid weaves a personal affecting account of being a refugee with providing a social and political commentary on war, and the deplorable experiences that refugees are subject to in various countries in the west. It begins in the East, a country that to me feels like i This is a brilliant and moving read from Mohsin Hamid which provides a critically imperative and timely novel of the urgency of contemporary global issues with the rising tide of displaced refugees and migrants. In beautiful prose, Hamid weaves a personal affecting account of being a refugee with providing a social and political commentary on war, and the deplorable experiences that refugees are subject to in various countries in the west. It begins in the East, a country that to me feels like it could be Pakistan, where the independent and adventurous Nadia meets the more introvert and timid Saeed just as the country begins to slide into a horrific civil war that comes to tragically encroach on them personally. As the violence escalates, leaving their homeland appears to be their only option, the two hear of rumours of the existence of doors, portals that allow them to exit West, an inherently fantastical element that they, amongst so many others, utilise. Narrated by a dispassionate observer, this is a story of war, identity, adapting, love, loss, sacrifice, and what it is to be a traumatised refugee amidst the hostility that swamps them in the countries in which they harbour elusive hopes of safety and security.

The couple go through numerous doors which includes visits to London and San Francisco in California where a large tent city has grown. What Nadia and Saeed encounter in their travels has them questioning who they are and what they mean to each other, exacerbated by the toll that the stresses and strains of their situation place on them. This tugs at the threads of their love and their personal relationship as it begins to fray. Nadia's responses differ from Saeed, she is more adaptable than he is as he sinks into prayers in his search for answers. As the challenges and demands of being in exile, immersed in a world that looks unfavourably on them, it is barely surprising that their love for each other begins to fall apart, although their regard and affection for each other remains, built through the fires of their mutual history.

This is an immensely thought provoking novel, confronting the growing nightmare of anti-refugee sentiments that engulf the west, amidst the ever growing exodus from war torn, dangerous and unstable nations. Refugees face bigotry, racism, riots, death and more. Mohsin Hamid's novel speaks to us of the times we live in and the uncertain and unsettling future beckoning greater worries of greater turbulence. My one regret is that the emotional distance provided by the narrator deprives the story of a more emotional and visceral reality that readers may have connected with more. Otherwise, an exceptional, absorbing and compelling read that I recommend highly! Many thanks to Penguin for an ARC. ...more

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Aug 26, 2019 Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) rated it liked it

Do you ever just feel like you're too dumb for a book? Because I feel like I am way too dumb for this book lol ...more

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Sep 02, 2017 Cheri rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017, library-book

Edit - rounded down stars from 4 to 3

3.5 Stars (remains the same)

”In a city swollen by refugees but still mostly at peace or at least not yet openly at war, a young man met a young woman in a classroom and did not speak for her. For many days.”
In public, Nadia is always dressed in a flowing black robe, covering every inch of her from her neck to her toes. Saeed has a shadow of a beard, stubble, which he meticulously maintains. They are studying corporate identity and product branding, despit Edit - rounded down stars from 4 to 3

3.5 Stars (remains the same)

”In a city swollen by refugees but still mostly at peace or at least not yet openly at war, a young man met a young woman in a classroom and did not speak for her. For many days.”
In public, Nadia is always dressed in a flowing black robe, covering every inch of her from her neck to her toes. Saeed has a shadow of a beard, stubble, which he meticulously maintains. They are studying corporate identity and product branding, despite the feeling of impending war.

”…our eternally impending ending does not put a stop to our transient beginnings and middles until the instant when it does.”

Time passes, they meet quietly often, affections grow as do other feelings, and there is almost an endless feelings of the push and pull of their relationship, as the push and pull of opposing sides grows ever louder, larger and more present. More time passes, and they feel the need to find a place where they can live without this never-ending fear.

”Location, location, location, the realtors say. Geography is destiny, respond the historians.”

And so, they find a way out by virtue of cash, and leave for other shores, but while it is better, it is not the answer. Leaving family, leaving Saeed’s father behind. And so, they leave once more, and things are better, but still it is not the future of their dreams.

“…and so by making the promise he demanded she make she was in a sense killing him, but that is the way of things, for when we migrate, we murder from our lives those we leave behind.”

There’s an element of magical realism that plays in this novel that I never felt I fully embraced. This is where it fell a little flat for me. The characters felt a little too one-dimensional to me, or maybe because they were also not overly likeable, it was not as easy to care about what happened to them. For me.

What did work well for me was the writing, which elevated this enough to keep reading, and also the premise of this novel kept drawing me back in. I kept hoping there was something that would live up to my expectations, and eventually, it did. What I loved most about this story was how all of this wrapped up in the end, a fitting and lovely ending. ...more

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Oct 20, 2016 Book Riot Community added it

Wow. This is such an amazing book, and despite it being set in a near future, it’s completely current. In fall-into-prose, Hamid tells a love story between two refugees, where doors offer escape from their war-torn country. I love how so many authors are using fabulism in their novels recently, and Hamid’s fabulistic doors offer a unique look into the sudden-ness of being forced to leave home. Exit West is such a bittersweet, human story. I recommend reading it in 1-2 sittings; it’s so easy to b ...more

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Dec 23, 2020 Jim Fonseca rated it really liked it

Shelves: pakistani-authors, dystopian, refugees, middle-east, war

This novel is set in a near-future dystopia that, for the folks in the story, is a lot like their existing dystopia. Saeed and Nadia, a young unmarried couple, live in an unnamed war-ravaged country, let’s say, like Syria. They are basically confined by the fighting to their neighborhood, and mainly to their room. They have uncertain electric power and water, often relying on food lines for their next meal. They flee the country as refugees, and make several subsequent trips to other countries, ...more

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Apr 17, 2017 Simon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

4.5 stars really, why is that function not available on GoodReads in 2017? Ha. Anyway, back to the matter in a hand... With Exit West I think Mohsin Hamid does something quite spectacular. At the forefront this is a novel about the refugee crisis, and worlds turmoil, right now (when you read it you'll notice where the books different settings are) yet set in an alternate near now where people can escape through random doors which take them to other countries. It is also a stunning tale of a rela ...more

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Jun 06, 2017 Nat rated it really liked it

Shelves: diverse-reads, magical-realism

I've seen this book quite a lot online since its release a couple of months back and finally decided to give it a shot yesterday... and I was transfixed almost instantly with that first chapter, especially once the dynamic Nadia was introduced into my life:

“When Saeed and Nadia finally had coffee together in the cafeteria, which happened the following week, after the very next session of their class, Saeed asked her about her conservative and virtually all-concealing black robe.
“If you don’t pra ...more

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About Mohsin Hamid

Mohsin Hamid

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Mohsin Hamid is the author of four novels, Moth Smoke , The Reluctant Fundamentalist , How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia , and Exit West , and a book of essays, Discontent and Its Civilizations .

His writing has been featured on bestseller lists, adapted for the cinema, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, selected as winner or finalist of twenty awards, and translated into thir ...more