Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

 

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

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.

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Title : Exit West

Author : Mohsin Hamid

Published Year : 2017

Genre : Fiction, War

I remember Exit West was nominated as one of the best fiction in 2017 together with Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Little Fires Everywhere. I read the other twos in the same year (2017), but leave out Exit West because I suddenly move to South Korea. 

Yesterday night, I just finished reading one of the emotional books, Pachinko, and decide to read 'light reading' Exit West. But I was wrong.

Yes, I knew it is war-themed that must be heavy but given the total pages, I thought it will not-too-emotional. 

Exit West is a book about love that tangled during the war broken in a country. Young Saeed and Nadia, living in..given the circumstances, a strict Muslim world that conflicted between the Government and Militants. The author didn't mention the country name but provide several details about the practice and believe. 

Nadia was working in an Insurance Company while Saeed in an Advertisement Company. They met at night class and Saaed falling in love with the beautiful Nadia even she always wears a black niqab to cover her hair and body. 

Saeed grows in a loving family, a harmonious parent that works in the education field. Meanwhile, Nadia is an independent woman, living alone, separated from her family to support herself. In their country, it is unthinkable for women to live alone. That's why to protect herself, Nadia wears clothing that covers almost all of her body, not because she is a religious woman. On the opposite, Saeed is more religious, he always offers a prayer. 

Under the curfew and conflicted area, Saeed and Nadia tried their way to meet event it was dangerous both from the war and the social judgments. 

Until the war cut off their telephone receptions, their occupation, and of course their daily life. Desperate and scared, the Author describes how human's natural instincts respond to war. Nadia withdrew all her monies from a bank, purchase supplies, convert the monies into gold and foreign currency. She took some measures in her house to protect her, especially from windows-which commonly become the reason many peoples die in their house.

Meanwhile, afraid that he will lose Nadia, Saeed proposed to her. But Nadia, unsure that marriage is what she wanted. 

When the city becomes unbearable to live in. Nadia and Saeed must make a difficult decision, abandon their previous life in their homeland. They seek refugee and immigrate to other countries. Then, their adventure begins.

Well, I have a mixed feeling reading this book. This book was poignant, poetic, and beautifully written. Not much detail and the sentences are not easy to read. But the author can capture the transformation feeling between Saeed and Nadia. How they fall in love, desperate, and grow apart. It is like witnessing a married couple's transformation in 200 pages without left out the significant event. 

The way the author tells, only mention two names Saeed and Nadia and then refer to other people based on their remark, for example, the elder man, the wrinkled man, the preacher's daughter_is unique but for my self, Non-Native English, a bit hard to grasp. But no problem though, sometimes I just need to more concentrate and reread it.

However, there is one tiny thing that bit caught me unexpectedly, the doors. Whenever Saeed and Nadia want to move to other countries, they will find this door to portal them to another country. Maybe, just maybe, the author wants to create a magic tool to simplify the story of how they suddenly migrate to another country. Because the author wants to focus on their life in a strange country, not, how to get the paperwork to move to another country. However, the door is like one of Doraemon's magic tools. That bit disturbs me. But you know, it is just the literal meaning of the title "EXIT WEST"- a door to the west. 

Aside from that, I love the storytelling style. It is a fresh read for me. 

All over the world people were slipping away from where they had been, from once fertile plains cracking with dryness, from seaside villages gasping beneath tidal surges, from overcrowded cities and murderous battlefields, and slipping away from other people too, people they had in some cases loved, as Nadia was slipping away from Saeed , and Saaed from Nadia.