MOHSIN HAMID Exit West. Reviewed by Folly Gleeson

In Exit West the worldwide problem of refugee settlement plus the recounting of a love story are explored in a tender, clear-eyed, wryly humorous and philosophical way.

This wonderful novel, shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize, is timely, dealing as it does with a world full of refugees. It is, however, not sentimental about the sorrows of refugees but explores the possibilities of hope and resilience in a world of violence and exploitation, and does so within a love story that is thrilling in its honesty.

Nadia and Saeed are two young people who live in an unspecified Middle-Eastern city whose citizens are incrementally overcome by militants, like frogs in slowly heated water. Nadia has always experienced some form of control as she is female; however, she has been able to make a life away from her family with a job in an insurance company. Saeed works for an outdoor advertising agency and lives at home. They meet at an evening class. It was a faint shock for this reader to realise that they are millennials and not repressed members of a medieval milieu. They have mobile phones, they smoke a joint and try psychedelic mushrooms — at Nadia’s instigation. Saeed puts on a black gown in order to pass for a sister when he visits her room. They have sexual adventures, for Nadia is a practical, modern young woman. Saeed is a little more conventional.

The violence escalates; Nadia’s cousin is killed and ultimately Saeed’s mother is also shot. Hamid describes the lovers’ increasing attraction as the violence and brutality grows around them:

Saeed was certain he was in love. Nadia was not so certain what she was feeling, but she was certain it had force. Dramatic circumstances, such as those in which they and other new lovers in the city now found themselves, have a habit of creating dramatic emotions, and furthermore the curfew served to conjure up an effect similar to that of a long distance relationship …

At this point Hamid begins to use a trope from another genre; a metaphor so clever that the reader accepts it quite willingly, although it is really a fantasy. He creates black doors, like black holes, through which people can become travellers. These doors enable people to move from country to country:

The effects doors had on people altered as well. Rumours began to circulate that doors could take you elsewhere, often to places far away, well removed from this death trap of a country.

More and more people find ways to use the doors. Safety is never guaranteed and not everyone wants to try to leave, but ultimately vast numbers of human beings are moving around the world. Hamid shows the horror of the attacks, the occupation and the government retaliation clearly but at a certain remove, deploying a matter-of-fact tone that does not attempt to wring an emotional response. He provides a respectful acknowledgement of what his characters suffer and his wide-ranging vignettes of refugee experience emphasise the enormity of the problem.

Nadia and Saeed move through black doors to Mykonos, London and Marin County. Their relationship grows and changes in interesting ways that ring true, and they have some challenging experiences:

When it was dark people began to emerge from the upstairs room where Nadia and Saeed had themselves first arrived: a dozen Nigerians, later a few Somalis, after them a family from the border-lands between Myanmar and Thailand. More and more and more. Some left the house as soon as they could. Others stayed, staking claim to a bedroom or sitting room of their own.

Little ironies are amusing. The uninhabited mansions of London are soon full of refugees, and the fact that karaoke machines are commandeered for Morning Prayer did make me laugh. Exit West is an especially pleasing work not only because Hamid’s writing is very elegant but because the worldwide problem of refugee settlement and an honest recounting of a love story are explored in tandem in a tender, clear-eyed, wryly humorous and philosophical way.

Mohsin Hamid Exit West Penguin Books 2018 PB 240pp $19.99

Folly Gleeson was a lecturer in Communication Studies. At present she enjoys her book club and reading history and fiction.

You can buy Exit West from Abbey’s at a 10% discount by quoting the promotion code NEWTOWNREVIEW here.

To see if it is available from Newtown Library, click here.

Tags: Booker Prize, Mohsin | Hamid