A review by escape_through_pages
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

📖 REVIEW 📖

“… neither talked much of drifting apart, not wanting to inflict a fear of abandonment, while also themselves quietly feeling that fear, the fear of the severing of their tie, the end of the world they had built together, a world of shared experiences in which no one else would share, and a shared intimate language that was unique to them, and a sense that what they might break was special and likely irreplaceable.“

Firstly, this quote is everything. 

Secondly, I think my opinion on this book depends on whether I’m viewing it as a love story, or a migrant story. The journey of Nadia and Saeed’s relationship, from its inception to its conclusion is engaging and felt genuine. The migrant story, if it is even meant to be that, is lacking. 

This books starts strong. Set in an unnamed city in the Middle East, our couple meet during a time when their city is crumbling, blackouts and curfews order lives and fighting destroys homes in the blink of an eye. Nadia is a woman who likes to wear jeans, rides a motorcycle, lives alone, has had sex outside marriage and smokes weed. Saeed is somewhat more conservative. Despite the odds of time, place and person being against them, they meet and begin a relationship in the midst of trying to survive in a city that is falling.

When it becomes too dangerous to stay, word reaches them of the presence of magic doors that lead to unknown places. You cannot return the way you’ve come, so passing through the doors is a risk. 

Nadia and Saeed take the chance together. Knowing no one but each other, they make three journeys. This part of the story, which forms the majority of the second half of the book, is decidedly weaker than the first. The experience of the migrant journey is brushed over through the metaphorical doors and I enjoyed it notably less. 

However, as we near the conclusion of the book, as Nadia and Saeed settle at their final destination, they are forced to face the reality of the toll their hardships have had on them as people and on their relationship. I was drawn back in. Hamid dealt with this breakdown, of a couple who were once so together becoming increasingly separate, with such compassion and understanding it was hard not to think I was reading someone’s truth. There were paragraphs here that really resonated with me, the sorrow of letting go, written with simplicity and without emotional manipulation. It’s touching and quietly powerful.