Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Exit West
Moshin Hamid
Review by Priscilla Comen
Exit West
Moshin Hamid
Review by Priscilla Comen
Exit West by Moshin Hamid is poetry as a novel. Hamid has been nominated for many awards and has had his novels translated into over thirty languages. This is the story of Saeed and Nadia, who meet by chance in a city that has bodies hanging from lamp posts and gun shots heard at night. At first they are shy but soon know each other well. “Dramatic circumstances” create “dramatic emotions,” says author Hamid. Saeed and Nadia fall in love. Because of a curfew, they only see each other on their phones. But as fasting makes food more delicious, distance intensifies relationships.
When the government suspends Internet communication, Saeed and Nadia and everyone feel totally isolated, and afraid. The government bombs neighborhoods, and Nadia finds her former home is gone. She doesn’t know where her family is, and moves in with Saeed’s family. He says no sex until they are married. Is this a proposal? Saeed, his father, and Nadia now interact with each other in the father’s apartment. They pay an agent to get them out of their country, but Saeed’s father says he won’t go, his wife is buried there. He asks Nadia to take care of Saeed, and she promises to do so. Saeed knows he will never see his father again, for “when we migrate, we murder those we leave behind.”
They go through a door and find themselves on the island of Mykonos, with many other refugees. They set up their tent and stay a while. They decide to leave the island and find another door. This door leads to a luxurious apartment in London. Author Hamid weaves both fantasy and fact, as the doors open to reveal real places; Mykonos, London, Marin. They keep starting anew. Will they stay together forever? Will they go through more doors into new cities? Will they always love one another? Find this profound, enjoyable book on the new fiction shelf of your community library.
When the government suspends Internet communication, Saeed and Nadia and everyone feel totally isolated, and afraid. The government bombs neighborhoods, and Nadia finds her former home is gone. She doesn’t know where her family is, and moves in with Saeed’s family. He says no sex until they are married. Is this a proposal? Saeed, his father, and Nadia now interact with each other in the father’s apartment. They pay an agent to get them out of their country, but Saeed’s father says he won’t go, his wife is buried there. He asks Nadia to take care of Saeed, and she promises to do so. Saeed knows he will never see his father again, for “when we migrate, we murder those we leave behind.”
They go through a door and find themselves on the island of Mykonos, with many other refugees. They set up their tent and stay a while. They decide to leave the island and find another door. This door leads to a luxurious apartment in London. Author Hamid weaves both fantasy and fact, as the doors open to reveal real places; Mykonos, London, Marin. They keep starting anew. Will they stay together forever? Will they go through more doors into new cities? Will they always love one another? Find this profound, enjoyable book on the new fiction shelf of your community library.