'Exit West' by Mohsin Hamid follows the story of a young couple, Nadia and Saeed, as they navigate a war-torn city and eventually flee through mysterious doors to different countries. The writing style is described as beautifully written and introspective, exploring themes of love, war, and immigration in a straightforward and unsentimental manner. The use of magical realism is mentioned as a device to convey the complexities of immigration, while the characters of Nadia and Saeed are praised for their depth and evolution throughout the story.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings primarily include violence, the impact of war, trauma related to displacement, and themes surrounding loss and grief.
Has Romance?
The romance between Saeed and Nadia is significant to the story, but it evolves and changes due to external circumstances, making it a complex aspect of the narrative.
From The Publisher:
FINALIST FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
10 BEST BOOKS OF 2017, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
WINNER OF THE L.A. TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR FICTION and THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE
"A breathtaking novel…[that] arrives at an urgent time." -NPR
"It was as if Hamid knew what was going to happen to America and the world, and gave us a road map to our future… At once terrifying and … oddly hopeful." -Ayelet Waldman, The New York Times Book Review
"Moving, audacious, and indelibly human." -Entertainment Weekly, "A" rating
A New York Times bestseller, the astonishingly visionary love story that imagines the forces that drive ordinary people from their homes into the uncertain embrace of new lands.
In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet-sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors-doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through. . . .
Exit West follows these remarkable characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.
Ratings (25)
Incredible (1) | |
Loved It (6) | |
Liked It (8) | |
It Was OK (9) | |
Did Not Like (1) |
Reader Stats (59):
Read It (25) | |
Want To Read (27) | |
Not Interested (7) |
2 comment(s)
It's a low 3 stars for me. I liked the premise and perhaps I've over hyped this in my head but I didn't enjoy this book, didn't found much of the book to stick. The magical realism on this was interesting and that's about it. I don't have strong disslike for this book or a list on huge faults of the book, I just didn't feel it was for me.
****4.0****
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What can you read after
Exit West?
About the Author:
Mohsin Hamid is the author of the international bestsellers Exit West and The Reluctant Fundamentalist, both finalists for the Man Booker Prize. His first novel, Moth Smoke, won the Betty Trask Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Foundation…
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