Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

How wonderful it is to finish a wonderful book and the same night hear an intelligent and articulate author speak about it. I must admit from the initial articles that I had read about the book, I was a little hesitant to dive right in. It seemed that in addition to being a contemporary set novel Exit West involved a bit of fantasy and suspended reality. It was good that I put those thoughts aside. 

Saeed and Nadia are the protagonists in the novel. As Hamid explained at the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures talk, he was certain that Saeed would be the main character, but as the book progressed, that designation really alternated with him. It is up to the reader to determine the status of each. Saeed and Nadia meet at a class in corporate branding in an country and city unnamed in the book It is "the city of their birth."  Their relationship grows amidst the violence and terror that overtakes that city. Nadia is an outwardly strong willed woman who has left her parents' home and lives by herself. Saeed, on the other hand, is an inwardly strong person who is devout and resides with his parents. He vows to be chaste until marriage in spite of Nadia's overtures. They talk of travel and adventure and what the dreams of the future.

Mohsin Hamid signing my copy of Exit West

After Saeed's mother is shot by a stray bullet, the two realize that it would be best to leave their native country, even if it means leaving Saeed's father behind. With homage to C.S. Lewis and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the two, with the help of an agent, pass through a black door and find themselves on Mykonos in a refugee camp. They decide to play tourist until Nadia has a fall and they meet up with a nurse who shows them another door. Passing through it brings them to London. The arrive at a mansion that has become home to Nigerians, Guatemalans, Indonesians. Nadia is energized by these migrants, but Saeed seeks out other refugees from his native land. It is apparent to the reader that the once destined to be married couple was experiencing growth in their character that would pull them apart. They work on a construction site as they listen and prepare for the nativists to begin a full scale massacre of the refugees. Their final move brings them to Marin County, California. They are honest with each other about their feelings and beliefs while living in a shantytown. 

Hamid builds the two characters' personalities with an amazing craft. Although both are very strong people, they exhibit that differently. Both characters change throughout the course of the book, but in an expected way, not veering from the deep-set fundamentals that make them individuals.  

Central to the novel is the theme of migration and Hamid explained this in his lecture. "We are all migrants through time," he remarks. And it is the right of people to migrate. When that is impeded, there is sure to be an autocracy. But Hamid is a hopeful person and one. Through their journey Saeed sees it as losing the past, but Nadia as looking to the future. So much more could be written on Exit West. It is one of those books that resonates in your brain as you reflect on what you have read. Definitely, one of the best books I have experienced in a long while.