Exit West in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Aug 24, 2017 Cathy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book was so lovely. It was like being told a story by a well-educated, erudite lady/gentleman. However, the beautiful, gentle language is about the horrors of war, the reshaping of nations, the fate of migrants, the hypocrisy of nativists, and the violence underpinning much of our society. This book has an element of magical realism: doors that are portals to a different location. This ability to move seamlessly from one place to another brings the question: what is a country? Is it static ...more

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Apr 25, 2017 Denise Cormaney rated it liked it · review of another edition

I wanted to love this book, but I merely liked it. There were lines of prose that were beautiful or haunting enough to give me pause, but overall I couldn't get a handle on the characters. It almost felt like I was reading about them through gauze; I could picture them, sort of, but I couldn't fully grasp them. And the elements of magical realism were so minor that it left me wondering why the author used them at all. ...more

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Dec 06, 2018 Katie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: minority-voices

So bleak. But I liked his writing.

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Mar 31, 2018 Dana Berglund rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-for-grown-ups

Nadia and Saeed meet at an evening class in the city of their births, start to build a relationship, and are swept into the violence and unexpected happenings of their time. Around the time that a violent militant uprising occurs in their city, mysterious portals open up between random doors around the world. They must make choices about going through doors with unknown destinations, leaving their futures in the hands of....fate? chance? luck?
Hamid's prose is conversationally lyrical, if that's ...more

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Sep 01, 2017 s_evan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, fiction

This story is about two individuals that fall in love while their country is going through a civil war. They end up as refugees through an oddly-easy transport, and the story follows the two as they acclimate to life in new lands. Really gripping writing style and story that is so unique and lovely. Yet I wonder, is this what it must be like to live through such hardships - it seems to sugar coat what living through war and migration must be like. He gives a taste of the struggles, including in ...more

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