A review by jmpeck16
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
2.0
The things that made it really difficult for me to connect to the book were:
-Lack of characterization/specificity. We get very few specifics to hold onto about either of the main characters, the location where the story begins, etc. I think this is excusable if the story is attempting to operate as a fable, applicable to many situations, but it did lessen my enjoyment of reading it.
-The events of the story. I felt the story itself was very bland. Very little happens to Nadia or Saeed in any of the places where they take refuge. They attempt to build a life. Sometimes they leave to try a new one. But I never felt pulled forward by the action of the story, curious about how a plot point will resolve itself. The story beats are also related in a distant, unemotional voice. The narrator will often inform the reader of something important that has happened to a character as an afterthought, in the final clause of a sentence. And explain it no further. So then even the things that happen that do have import don't feel like they do.
-The lack of emotion. The story's narrator narrates everything in a very detached and monotonous tone. At the beginning, when Nadia and Saeed decide to leave their home, it almost came as a shock to me, because I didn't realize that they were that concerned, let alone scared, of the violence happening around them. Throughout the story I think we are supposed to feel bad for them as they face the trials of living in migrant camps, confront angry "natives" of the places they visit, etc. But they themselves are never described as upset by these things. So it didn't really raise many emotions in me either.
-The love story. Similar to the above point, I don't think I felt wildly invested in their love because, even in the beginning, it's never described as overly intense. It is sweet. They clearly care about each other. But it didn't seem to me like a wild love affair. Though perhaps that's just because we didn't spend enough time in either of their heads. I actually appreciated the way that they drifted apart in the end. It was realistic, given the strains their relationship had been under. And I also love that Nadia ended up with a woman. But overall, I just wanted more from this very central aspect of the story.
I think I could have still really enjoyed this book with only one or two of the above critiques present. But in the end, with all of them, I just felt I had nothing to hold onto. I didn't have an interesting character to root for, I didn't feel there were important stakes or that anything happening mattered to the characters, I didn't feel there was enough action to hold my interest, and with the detachment of the narrator and seemingly the characters themselves, I didn't even feel there was an important moral to the fable. Perhaps the point was that Nadia and Saeed are just one of thousands, one of millions, of similar stories. But why take a whole book to say that? That's already how most people feel. Shouldn't the author be trying to convince us that each of these stories is unique and meaningful?
I did enjoy the writing style and it was an easy read. But in the end, I just felt... meh.
-Lack of characterization/specificity. We get very few specifics to hold onto about either of the main characters, the location where the story begins, etc. I think this is excusable if the story is attempting to operate as a fable, applicable to many situations, but it did lessen my enjoyment of reading it.
-The events of the story. I felt the story itself was very bland. Very little happens to Nadia or Saeed in any of the places where they take refuge. They attempt to build a life. Sometimes they leave to try a new one. But I never felt pulled forward by the action of the story, curious about how a plot point will resolve itself. The story beats are also related in a distant, unemotional voice. The narrator will often inform the reader of something important that has happened to a character as an afterthought, in the final clause of a sentence. And explain it no further. So then even the things that happen that do have import don't feel like they do.
-The lack of emotion. The story's narrator narrates everything in a very detached and monotonous tone. At the beginning, when Nadia and Saeed decide to leave their home, it almost came as a shock to me, because I didn't realize that they were that concerned, let alone scared, of the violence happening around them. Throughout the story I think we are supposed to feel bad for them as they face the trials of living in migrant camps, confront angry "natives" of the places they visit, etc. But they themselves are never described as upset by these things. So it didn't really raise many emotions in me either.
-The love story. Similar to the above point, I don't think I felt wildly invested in their love because, even in the beginning, it's never described as overly intense. It is sweet. They clearly care about each other. But it didn't seem to me like a wild love affair. Though perhaps that's just because we didn't spend enough time in either of their heads. I actually appreciated the way that they drifted apart in the end. It was realistic, given the strains their relationship had been under. And I also love that Nadia ended up with a woman. But overall, I just wanted more from this very central aspect of the story.
I think I could have still really enjoyed this book with only one or two of the above critiques present. But in the end, with all of them, I just felt I had nothing to hold onto. I didn't have an interesting character to root for, I didn't feel there were important stakes or that anything happening mattered to the characters, I didn't feel there was enough action to hold my interest, and with the detachment of the narrator and seemingly the characters themselves, I didn't even feel there was an important moral to the fable. Perhaps the point was that Nadia and Saeed are just one of thousands, one of millions, of similar stories. But why take a whole book to say that? That's already how most people feel. Shouldn't the author be trying to convince us that each of these stories is unique and meaningful?
I did enjoy the writing style and it was an easy read. But in the end, I just felt... meh.