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What Members Thought
This book is hard to describe because it teeters between realism and magical realism and fantasy. Regardless of its category, this book is about relationship and immigration and how we grow and evolve as people. Read it to see the world differently and with more compassion. Read it to give yourself the grace to change into who you might really be.
I just finished this book, and I want to devour it again and again.
This is a love story and an immigrant story, but mostly it is a story about endings and beginnings. The clever twist — and you know there’s a clever twist because this is a Mohsin Hamid novel — is to completely remove the middle from the typical migration tale.
In this novel, immigrants are whisked to other locations through magical doors. It’s a clever device that allows the reader to experience immigration without the actual j ...more
This is a love story and an immigrant story, but mostly it is a story about endings and beginnings. The clever twist — and you know there’s a clever twist because this is a Mohsin Hamid novel — is to completely remove the middle from the typical migration tale.
In this novel, immigrants are whisked to other locations through magical doors. It’s a clever device that allows the reader to experience immigration without the actual j ...more
I liked this more than I expected, and it started strong for me, but I felt like I was dragging myself through it by the end. The writing style was interesting at first but quickly got tiring - so many “ands” and commas instead of just writing a new sentence! There was a weird preoccupation with sex that didn’t seem to fit for me - it felt like he wanted to throw that in every chance he got, whether it furthered the story or not. However, I really enjoyed the interspersed little vignettes, and I
...more
May 08, 2019
Deepthi
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
popsugar-reading-challenge-2019
A contemporary immigrant story, very relevant in our times
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
Hamid's prose is conversationally lyrical, if that's ...more
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
Dec 10, 2018
Cat
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
booker-prize-winners
spare, haunting, magical realism that was very real
Mar 19, 2018
Terri
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read2018,
booker-prize
