Book Review: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

I read this novel for the same class that I read The Overstory for. It was another title that caught my eye on the syllabus and it certainly it did not disappoint.

With simultaneous elegance and simplicity, Hamid addresses the issues that all of human kind must face: loss, nostalgia, transience and change. Hamid’s writing does an excellent job of balancing his matter of fact prose with a more sentimental and vivid writing style. The result is a haunting portrayal of transience and migration.

These themes were particularly resonant for me as I have always been one to be fixated on change and what it means. I am simultaneously in love with and fearful of change. Like everyone, I find that change can be scary when it means losing things or people we are attached to. I think that Hamid does an excellent job of portraying the fact that change is a great thing, but it also generates a sense of loss that we call nostalgia.

What it’s about:

This novel follows a young couple as they are forced from their home due to warfare and violence. However, though these two characters are the focal point, the novel is about all sorts of migration. It dives into different lives and stories in order to tell the connective story of refugees. Aside from this, Hamid elevates his novel on a metaphorical and fantastical scale by adding a level of surrealism. While the setting of a country torn apart by violence is one that is all too real, in Hamid’s world, there are doors that can transport inhabitants to faraway places. In this way, Hamid generates a version of this world in which mass migration is possible and addresses the implications of such a world.

Who should read it:

This book is appropriately acclaimed, as it is both approachable and significant. Hamid doesn’t overcomplicate the issues that he addresses, so any reader can be sucked in to this story. In addition, there are many themes that are more relatable and allow readers to understand the more specific struggles of refugees that Hamid hopes to draw attention to. Basically, anyone can read this book.

4/5

Exit West strikes the perfect balance between a lighter, quicker read and a heavier more political commentary. There is even a sort of poetry mixed in to the writing style. Hamid’s writing is both lyrical and thoroughly enjoyable.