Exit West by Mohsin Hamid - 5 stars

[Booknblues]

IN A CITY SWOLLEN BY REFUGEES but still mostly at peace, or at least not yet openly at war, a young man met a young woman in a classroom and did not speak to her. For many days. His name was Saeed and her name was Nadia and he had a beard, not a full beard, more a studiously maintained stubble, and she was always clad from the tips of her toes to the bottom of her jugular notch in a flowing black robe. Back then people continued to enjoy the luxury of wearing more or less what they wanted to wear, clothing and hair wise, within certain bounds of course, and so these choices meant something.

So begins Exit West by Mohsin Hamid and from the beginning sentences one can sense the potential in Saeed's and Nadia's story as well as wonder at Moshin Hamid's prose. It is often lovely, descriptive with a deft hand and clever sardonic phrasing. I fell in love with his writing and found my self longing for a way for Saeed and Nadia to find their way in the world together.

While the country of Saeed's and Nadia's origin is never disclosed at the beginning I thought it was Syria having recently read A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival about a family of refugees from Syria. Saeed and Nadia meet before the fighting begins and we learn that Nadia is a bit unconventional:

He watched as she walked out to the student parking area and there, instead of covering her head with a black cloth, as he expected, she donned a black motorcycle helmet that had been locked to a scuffed-up hundred-ish cc trail bike, snapped down her visor, straddled her ride, and rode off, disappearing with a controlled rumble into the gathering dusk.

For the first half of this book I was enraptured. It was so moving and so real. And then about midway the book shifted much like The Orphan Master's Son or The Underground Railroad and my balanced faltered and I wondered what was I reading and did I like it.

The writing continued to be brilliant, but I wondered if I wanted to follow Mohsin Hamid through the doors he was taking me.

And here I don't want to disclose too much, because I think it pays to have the reader taken aback and surprised and wondering where they are going and just what kind of book it is and what it all means. I am so glad I read it and hope to encourage more readers, so I can talk about this book. Wow!

[Susie]

I can't wait to read this now. Thanks!

[Booknblues]

It has a bit of magical realism in it. I'm giving forwarning to those who are not fond.

[Jen]

I am looking forward to reading this. It was my BOTM club selection. I loved Reluctant Fundamentalist

[Nicole R]

SO. MANY. GOOD. BOOKS!

[Booknblues]

Jen wrote: "I am looking forward to reading this. It was my BOTM club selection. I loved Reluctant Fundamentalist"

His writing is so good that I want to go back and read the Reluctant Fundamentalist. In this book, I underlined passage after passage.

[Booknblues]

Nicole R wrote: "SO. MANY. GOOD. BOOKS!"

And I'm reading another one now!

[Nicole R]

What else are you reading? (If you say The Nix I am seriously dropping everything to read that. Lol)

[Booknblues]

I'm reading Celine.

I want to read the Nix, but I don't have a copy and I am way backed up with what I want to read.

After Celine, I have Himself, Skeleton God(the newest one in a favorite series) andTrespassing Across America: One Man's Epic, Never-Done-Before (and Sort of Illegal) Hike Across the Heartland.

I'm pretty excited about all this.

[Nicole R]

Ah! Celine is on my list too. I need more snow days.

[Booknblues]

Celine is very good. I'm loving it.

[annapi]

I heard about this on NPR's Fresh Air. The city is patterned after the author's native Lahore, Pakistan.

[Booknblues]

annapi wrote: "I heard about this on NPR's Fresh Air. The city is patterned after the author's native Lahore, Pakistan."

Thanks for letting me know. I had heard he was Pakistani. I might try to find that Fresh Air episode.

[annapi]

Booknblues wrote: "Thanks for letting me know. I had heard he was Pakistani. I might try to find that Fresh Air episode. "

I think I heard it yesterday (or was it the day before?). Recently, anyway.

[annapi]

Here it is: http://www.npr.org/2017/03/08/5192179...

[Booknblues]

annapi wrote: "Here it is: http://www.npr.org/2017/03/08/5192179..."

Thanks!

[Michael]

Compellimg review there. Good to see your taste for the exotic have some romance among the ruins.

[Booknblues]

Michael wrote: "Compellimg review there. Good to see your taste for the exotic have some romance among the ruins."

I'm afraid this one has more ruins among the romance....but the romance is compelling, perhaps because of the ruins.

[Kristel]

Happy to see the good review and 5 stars.

[Booknblues]

It is a book that I expect to have love it or hate it reviews.