Exit West

by Mohsin Hamid

Saeed prayed for peace and Saeed’s father prayed for Saeed

to love is to enter into the inevitability of one day not being able to protect what is most valuable to you.

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

Until the end of his days, prayer sometimes reminded Saeed of his mother, and his parents’ bedroom with its slight smell of perfume, and the ceiling fan churning in the heat.