From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

Exit West

Mohsin Hamid

Start date: September 15, 2017

Finish date: October 1, 2017

Discussion: Reading List

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Reading List

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What Members Thought

Nov 18, 2017 Laura rated it it was ok

Shelves: audio-books, read-2017, man-booker-prize-nominee, contemporary-fiction, indian-literature

From BBC radio 4 - Book at Bedtime:
Nadia and Saeed are two ordinary young people falling in love but their world is about to be turned upside down. Theirs is a story of a world in crisis and two humans travelling through it. Read by Nikesh Patel.

Mohsin Hamid is the author of four novels: Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia and now Exit West.

An extraordinary story of love, hope and displacement shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017.

Author: Mohsin Ha ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Jun 22, 2017 Linda rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, 2017, chcpl, hardback

I read this in one day (not one sitting,I had to go to work.). I was quickly drawn in, perhaps, specifically in contrast to the previous book I finished.
Parts of the book were confusing, but I mostly figured out what was going on by the end of the book.
A young woman and a young man meet in a war-torn (unnamed) Middle Eastern country. The book was partially about their relationship and partially about their escape from that country and becoming refuges.
I didn't necessarily like the ending. I fel ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Apr 10, 2017 Temple Dog rated it it was ok

Moshin Hamid’s Exit West is a rather timely read. Hamid tackles such contemporary themes as migration, perceived cultural degradation and the evolution of a relationship over time and space.

I have read most of Hamid’s books (Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Fitly Rich in Rising Asia) and with the exception of How to Get… all of his works confound me. For me, reading his books is akin to gliding along a lagoon through a fog. Exit West felt as if I were being overtaken by a myt ...more

1 like · Like · see review

May 09, 2018 William rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018

A beautifully written examination of the immigrant experience. Two young people from an unnamed middle eastern country find each other and gradually drift into something approximating love. He is religious in the way he was taught, she is observant in some ways but certainly not religious. He struggles to stay true to his beliefs while she tries to mold herself to their changing circumstances. In this way their relationship is tested.
Using the vehicle of doors through which they pass to each new ...more

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Apr 19, 2018 Tensy (bookdoyen) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: kc-book-club, fiction

This is my third Mohsin Hamid book, having read The Reluctant Fundamentalist and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. Hamid manages in a terse writing style to expand on broad themes and in this novel he captures the migrant experience with a creative use of "portals" that allow persons to move across countries by entering special doors. I would call this a literary device rather than science fiction. It allows Hamid to reflect the experiences of a variety of immigrants from a multitude of cou ...more

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Jul 09, 2018 Kai Coates rated it liked it

I thought the first half was pretty good and the second half was borderline awful. I hated the "doors" metaphor. Maybe the author felt that eliminating the migration experience would emphasize the common humanity, but it came across to me as a lazy writing trick. ...more

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