Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Nadia is tempestuous and independent. She lives in a war-stricken country, in the top floor of a two-storied building, alone. She enjoys the texture of her independence. Despite being stuck in a finance job, her creative outbursts seeps into margins of a notebook during a course in Finance and Corporate.

Saeed is pursuing the same course.

Saeed is calm and conservative. He lives with his parents and enjoys doing so. He works in an advertising agency and to augment his career, he takes the course.

And this story is about these two individuals.

In a hushed corridor, Saeed asks Nadia for coffee. She refuses initially, but after Saeed’s persistence, she agrees. In a war-stricken country, there’s space for bombs, and hate, but love is dismissed to tiny corners. They meet in her room and smoke marijuana. And this is how Saeed enter Nadia’s room:

The bag landed beside Saeed with a muffled thump. He opened it, found her spare downstairs key, and also one of her black robe, which he furtively puller on over his own outfit, covering his head with its hood, and then, with a mincing gait that reminded her of a stage-play robber, he approached the front door, unlocked it, and a minute late appeared at her apartment, where she motioned him to sit.

Their romantic evenings meet an unfortunate twist with the country being under the siege of militants. Saeed faces a personal loss as well and on his family’s insistence, he and Nadia flee to Vienna, where they are refugees in a tent. The crisp air and the blue houses are appealing but as they sulk in their own grime, the beauty collapses. Nadia’s and Saeed’s relationship evolves and they find happiness in brushing their knuckles or walks, around. 

But relief sets in when, with the help of a local, they flee to London. Here they have a luxurious house with amenities and fellow refugees but their relationship sees cracks. Nadia is ambivalent to fundamentalist views but Saeed is drawn to the holy clergies. The book is interpersed with anecdotes from Mexico, California, and other cities and countries and a public view of refugees and immigrants.

I found it interesting how Nadia seeks herself despite the ongoing turbulence, within and outside. Saeed seeks solace and tries to find peace in his own way. Exit West is not a novel about refugees fleeing and finding peace and stability in another land, other than theirs. It is a novel about the constant struggle of being a refugee in one’s own mind and finding it hard to adjust with the self and the surroundings. I have only an afterthought though. Brutality is a vital part in crossing borders but the book is a rose-tinted version of the refugee crisis in times of Rohingya and the suggested Mexican wall.

Mohsin Hamid is a charmer and pick this up to feel the emotions uprising throughout.