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Exit West

Mohsin Hamid

Start date: June 1, 2020

Finish date: June 29, 2020

Discussion: Monthly Bonus Reads

Why we're reading this: June Bonus Read: World Refugee Day

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
[close] June Bonus Read: World Refugee Day

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

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What Members Thought

Sep 16, 2017 Puck rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, important, romance, people-of-colour

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

Exit West is a beautiful and brutal book, yet it sadly missed something vital to make it stick. This is too bad, because now more than ever we need books like this: showing us the desperation and struggle of immigrants searching for safety.
But I agree with Thomas: “the story won over my mind but not my heart.”

I’m not sure there is one element to ‘blame’ for this. The writing style was fluid and free, but the harsh reality "For when we migrate, we murder from our lives those we leave behind."

Exit West is a beautiful and brutal book, yet it sadly missed something vital to make it stick. This is too bad, because now more than ever we need books like this: showing us the desperation and struggle of immigrants searching for safety.
But I agree with Thomas: “the story won over my mind but not my heart.”

I’m not sure there is one element to ‘blame’ for this. The writing style was fluid and free, but the harsh reality brings the story down. How it goes from describing Nadia and Saeed smoking weed on her balcony, to war cruelties taking place in the city hit me hard, just like it should. Your safe haven can be gone in a *snap*

I liked our main characters Saeed and Nadia as well: the growth of their relationship and their own feelings felt genuine and very bittersweet. Their love for each other is true, but it’s so hard to hold on to when you’re constantly living in uncertainty of the future.

“To flee forever is beyond the capacity of most: at some point even a hunted animal will stop, exhausted, and awaits its fate, if only for a while.”

I think my issue with this book lies with the magical-realism aspect. Not that I minded the doors: I actually found them a clever find, because the doors place the focus on an immigrant-issue that bothers most (nationalist) people: the housing of refugees in rich Western cities.

But by making the refugee’s flight as ‘simple’ as stepping through a door, you take away the part of a journey that can literally mean life or death for someone. Summer is here and several thousand people are dangerously crossing the Mediterranean Sea, and it’s so easy to grow numb to that. It shouldn’t. It mustn’t.

That’s why – in this book where Hamid hits so many marks when it comes to immigrants and immigration – there should've been more pain to their journey to the West. Many readers however found that the author did dig deep enough, and just like them I want to push this book into people’s hands going “READ IT!”
But for a higher rating and a more memorable experience, I needed this story to have something more. ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

Jan 26, 2018 siriusedward rated it liked it

On further thinking I liked the second half of the book much more. Esp the way he related the experience of the migrants and the natives and the various reacrions the migration evoked on the individual and on the groups and also on the relationship between Nadia and Saeed.
Loved certain observations the author made and questions he asked like that of the question about nativeness.And yeah ,the doors were interesting..esp using those to narrate the experience of different people in different parts ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Sep 13, 2017 Lisa rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this fantasy based book that intertwines people, lives and many different places. Nadia and Saeed meet in their worn torn country. We never find out which country but it could be any country with civil unrest and people fleeing. It is a dangerous place for them and they learn about these "magical" doors. Once you step through a door you will enter into a new country with different people and better opportunities. Not all doors lead to a perfect fit and sometimes people need to try a ne ...more

4 likes · Like · see review