Scan barcode
undecidedpersonality's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gore and Excrement
lawbooks600's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Score: Five out of ten.
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid is like a novel wrapped in incoherent and incorrect English where the first half is incredible but the second is a letdown. I remember reading a blurb saying Exit West meets An American Marriage, so after an entire year and a few months, I read Exit West, ignoring the low ratings, but it was underwhelming.
It starts with Saeed and Nadia living in an unnamed city in an unnamed country in a civil war that grows closer the more pages I read. Saeed and Nadia (who are already in a romantic relationship) have to flee, beginning the second half of the narrative, but Exit West is no ordinary refugee story. Do they cross countries or get on a boat? No, rather they discover a magical black door that can take them to any country in the world, so they enter it and land in Greece.
However, they discover another door so they can travel to America, London in the UK, and finally, Marrakech in Morocco. Sounds tedious? It is. If the only problem in Exit West are those doors, then I would be done with this review, but I'm not done. These doors represent an effortless way out, which misrepresents refugee experiences. In reality, some survive but have to face challenges. Some die, and no refugee has the privilege of teleporting out of their country. The characters are difficult to relate with, but adding depth could improve the reading experience.
The most frustrating aspect are the run-on sentences. Hamid, have you heard of splitting sentences? That could help. One sentence lasted for one page and a few lines, so imagine reading that. This creation attempts a heartwarming conclusion with Saeed and Nadia in Marrakech together, but I didn't think they had chemistry. Exit West is another disappointing piece of literary fiction, so my search for an enjoyable one continues.
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
Full trigger warnings: Military violence and war themes, physical assault and injury, fire, death of people in an explosion, refugee experiences, displacement, drug use, racism, white supremacy, xenophobia, blood, grief and loss depictionviolerwolf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, and Classism
violetends's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Racism, and Police brutality
savvyrosereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Nadia and Saeed flee their war-torn nation through a magical door that can help people travel long distances.
I buddy read this one with my friend Hannah and our conversation about it was…probably my favorite part of the read. This wasn’t bad, exactly, but I never really got pulled into the story, and I found myself feeling like this book was trying to make deep points with meaningfully political commentary, yet none of it was landing for me. I couldn’t even tell you what I thought the main philosophical/intellectual takeaways from this were, which is never a great sign.
That said, this is a very short read, and others might find more to connect with! For me, I wanted to see the magical realism element explored a LOT more, and wanted more plot points that grabbed me and made me feel emotionally connected with the story.
CW: Violence/war/blood; death of parent; xenophobia/racism
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and War
aquakirst's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
the vignettes of various people peppered throughout the story were beautifully written, and i was invested in every story hamid chose to tell. i did find his prose a bit clunky at times, like he was trying too hard to be poetic when simplicity would have been more evocative, but overall exit west is a beautiful story of love, loss and hope
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Racism and Xenophobia
peachani's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Moderate: Racism and Islamophobia
Minor: Hate crime, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War
lanosmith5's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Xenophobia and War
Moderate: Racism
steveatwaywords's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Our main characters are real, fitting inconveniently into their fictional culture as one does, in communities ruptured as often happens, and made refugees, migrants, as too many are. The novel works, then, as a dialogue between the micro (the relationship between Saeed and Nadia) and the macro (a world compelled to confront the immigrant experience): relationships of choice and of compulsion. Fittingly, and without spoilers, Hamid's closing chapters pull these together in poetic epiphany for us, even if all his characters never quite get it.
Accept the character asides, accept the narrator's distanced omniscience, accept the conceit which propels the novel into its collisions--what awaits is little less than the collective responsibility we all have as readers and dwellers.
Why not five stars? If anything, Hamid is too modest in his ambition, in the depths of his explorations, opting instead for a quickly told short work which might do more still than call the question.
Moderate: Racism, Violence, and Death of parent
cerilouisereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Death of parent, and War